


Cure

by pcworth



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 10:48:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 53,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10852419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcworth/pseuds/pcworth
Summary: Emma discovers she did bring something back with her from the Enchanted Forest past other than Robin Hood's wife and it could cost Regina more than Emma ever imagined. But will it open her eyes to something else. Not a great summary, I know.





	1. Chapter 1

Regina drank down what felt like her 20th glass of water that day. She felt her face – a little warm.

"Just great, as if things couldn't get worse now I am getting sick," she said to herself. "Par for the course."

The last few weeks had taken its toll on her. First she finally opens her heart to the possibility of love again, then she defeats her half-sister only for her to die, then Emma Swan – the bane of her existence manages to ruin what was probably her final chance at love by bringing Robin's wife Marian back with her from the past.

She had spoken to Robin once since when he came to see her the next day.

"I don't know …"

"Don't," Regina said interrupting him. "This … this situation … let's not make it harder than it already is. She is your wife. She is Roland's mother. You love her and that is all that needs to be said. I won't interfere with that. I know what it's like to be on both ends of interfering with true love and I want no part of it. Just … tell her I am sorry for past me, and you … you go be with your family and enjoy the happiness you deserve."

"I do care for you."

"I know," she said giving him a small smile. "I know, but we both know where your life and your love are. Don't, don't apologize or anything stupid like that. This isn't your fault."

"I know you are angry with Emma."

"That isn't your concern."

"It is my concern. You tell me to apologize to Marian for past you. You aren't the Evil Queen anymore Regina, don't let your anger ruin who you are now is all I am asking," he said moving toward her. He placed a small kiss on her cheek. "You are a good person. Don't change that."

"Good bye Robin."

The pain she felt wasn't anything compared to losing Daniel, but her heart had still ached. She had allowed the belief into her – the belief she could be happy again, and love again. She should have gone with her first instincts and avoided Robin from the start.

Regina poured another glass of water and took it upstairs with her to bed. It was only 8:30 p.m. but sleep sounded really good to her right now. All she had to do was get through work tomorrow and on Saturday she would get to spend time with Henry.

She knew Henry was worried about her and she didn't want him worrying like that. He had even apologized to her like he had anything to do with this. She loved him so much. He was the one thing her life that wasn't a complete disaster.

Emma pulled up to the mansion. "You got everything you need?" she asked.

"Yes," he said pulling his bag from the back seat.

"I will pick you up tomorrow, right here."

"Ok," he before getting out. She pulled away, figuring that she shouldn't linger. She had gone to speak to Regina a few days after her return from the Enchanted Forest. She hadn't even gotten the chance to try and apologize.

"Miss Swan, we have to deal with each other in an official capacity since I understand you will be resuming your role as sheriff. I want to see my son on a regular basis, so I have to deal with you in that regards. Most of those things can probably be worked out over email or if they must over the phone. But if you have some topic you wish to discuss that doesn't fall under one of those two categories don't bother coming near me because I don't want to hear it. I don't care what you have to say. I don't care if you are sorry. Because you aren't sorry, not really. You aren't sorry for saving her life – and I accept that you shouldn't be sorry for that. You've reunited true love. Congratulations Savior. Maybe we can discuss having your statue erected in the town square at the next council meeting. But you aren't sorry for your actions affects on me. It's not sorry that you feel, it's called guilt. And don't worry, that will fade quickly enough. After all you didn't give a shit about my thoughts or feelings when you were going to take Henry away to New York, so don't expect me to believe you care now. Good day sheriff."

Regina had closed the door on her and they hadn't spoken since.

Even when she had faced Regina as the Evil Queen in the Enchanted Forest she hadn't been as afraid as she was in that moment. Despite all that she must have been feeling, Regina had delivered her little speech in the most unattached, unemotional way. It was if she couldn't muster up the anger – as if she was dead inside. And that made Regina scarier to her than the hot-headed brunette she proved herself to be at times.

The scanner went off startling her from her musings. She barely caught "unknown medical emergency…." But she caught the Mifflin Street address. Doing an illegal u-turn in the street she raced back to Regina's.

Running from her car to the house somehow she knew this emergency wasn't Henry. It was Regina.


	2. Chapter 2

"Henry!" she yelled as soon as she came through the door.

"Up here."

She ran up the stairs, called to him again and got to the room at the end of the hall. Upon entering she found Henry on the floor kneeling beside Regina.

"She won't wake up. I called the ambulance."

"I know. I heard the call on the scanner and came back," Emma said kneeling beside her. She felt Regina's head. "She's burning up."

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. Go downstairs. Lead the EMTs up."

Henry ran out the door and Emma shook Regina. "Regina, wake up." She shook her again, but no response. "Regina."

She heard the sirens outside as she looked for any wounds or anything that might explain what was wrong. She saw what looked like a rash on her arm, like she had been scratching it.

The EMTs got there and tried to wake her, but ended up loading her up to take her to the hospital. Emma took Henry with her in her car.

Once there they had to wait in the lobby as they took Regina into the back.

"I came in and she wasn't there. She didn't answer when I yelled for her and so I went upstairs and she was just lying there on the floor and wouldn't wake up," Henry said.

"You did the right thing by calling the ambulance. I am sure Dr. Whale will be able to figure out what is wrong. She'll be ok."

They were waiting for more than an hour before Dr. Whale came out. "How is she?" Henry asked. Dr. Whale looked at Emma. "The mayor is … she's sick, and I don't know what is wrong with her, but I am running some tests. We have hooked up to an IV to help replenish her fluids and to give some antibiotics to help with the fever."

"But she's going to be ok, right?" Henry asked.

"We're going to do our best to take care of her," he said.

Emma knew that not answering a direct question was another way of saying something was wrong. She put her hand on Henry's shoulder.

"Can I see her?" Henry asked.

"Not right now," Dr. Whale said. "You should go home. I will have someone call if there is any change in her condition, but until we isolate what this is, we should play it safe."  
"She shouldn't be alone," Henry said.

"We have to let the medical staff do its work," Emma said. "Dr. Whale, call us as soon as you know something."

"I will."

Emma was on the phone with her mom, letting her know about Regina when there was a knock on the door. She opened it to see Hook standing there with a bottle of wine and a smile. "I will have to call you back," she said to her mom.

Hook came in and saw Henry and turned to Emma. "I thought Henry was staying at Regina's."

"Sorry, I meant to call you. Tonight's not good. Regina … she's in the hospital."

"So Henry is here. We can hang together until he goes to sleep.'

"Regina is in the hospital. They don't know what is wrong with her. I don't think tonight is a good time for us to hang out. I need to be with Henry right now."

"Come on Swan," he smiled.

"Killian. I will call you tomorrow."

The next day, Emma was woken by the phone. It was Dr. Whale asking her to come to the hospital as soon as possible.

They were there within the hour – and they weren't the only ones.

The waiting area seemed to be full, but when Emma saw Hook and then Robin and Marian she got a bad feeling. She walked over to Hook. "What are you doing here?"

"Doc had someone track me down and asked me to come in."

She was about to ask more but Dr. Whale came out and asked Emma, Hook and Marian into another room. Robin and Henry accompanied them.

"What's going on?" Emma asked.

"We know what's wrong with Regina and the others."

"Others, what others?"

"Ever since yesterday we've had patients coming in – all with symptoms like Regina's. It wasn't anything I recognized, but one of my nurses did. They all have this rash on different parts of their bodies. It was the rash she recognized. It's from something called Skiver Fever."

"That's not possible," Robin said. "Only kids get it."

"That is what my nurse said, and all the patients who have come in are children with the exception of Regina."

"What is Skiver Fever?" Emma asked.

"It's a disease that typically affects children between the ages of 7 and 16. It starts off as a severe dehydration, followed by fever, chills, aches, and then hallucinations and then the pain gets so bad that their muscles will constrict so severely that their bones can break right before they die. It's some times called bone break fever."

"But there is a cure right?" Emma asked.

From the silence, she knew the answer was no.

"This is a disease from the Enchanted Forest. You three were the last ones there, so I need to test you all to see which one of you is the carrier. Once I discover that, I am hoping since none of you are sick that there may be antibodies in your blood to use for a cure."

Emma asked Robin to watch Henry as the three of them were led to another area for testing. They past by rooms where Emma could see there were children in beds. Whale took a blood sample from each of them, and then kept them waiting – isolated from the rest of the people.

Hook tried speaking to her, but she wasn't paying much attention. She could only hope that she or Hook was the carrier. The other possibility was too much for her to think about. Because if it was Marian, it meant that Emma caused this. She had brought someone who was supposed to be dead forward in time, to another world and if this was the result …

They kept waiting to the point Emma was ready to go hunt down Dr. Whale. When he came in, Emma was prepared for him to say it was her or Hook. But then he looked directly at Marian.


	3. Chapter 3

Emma found Robin and Henry. "Marian is in Dr. Whale's office, you should go see her."

"Is everything ok?"

"Marian is fine. Just go."

Robin left and Emma took Henry by the shoulder and started leading him out of the hospital. "Wait," Henry said. "I want to see mom."

"You can't," Emma said.

"But …"

Emma stopped him. "I know you want to see your mom, but this disease, it affects kids and you were born here, not there so Dr. Whale says you could be more susceptible to getting it, so my priority has to be in keeping you safe." She got him moving again.

"What about this fever? Which of you brought it back?"

"Marian did," she said almost choking on the words.

Henry stopped, and Emma could only imagine what he was thinking. "Will Dr. Whale be able to find a cure now that he knows it was in Marian?"

"I hope so," she said getting him moving.

"Is Mom ok? Did Dr. Whale say who is she doing?"

"No."

"You didn't ask did you?"

Emma looked away, "no. I didn't. I can go back and check."

"Don't bother," he said walking faster ahead of her. They got to the car, and Emma endured his silence all the way home where he went directly to his room.

Regina opened her eyes. Hospital, she thought, as her eyes started to close. Why am I in a hospital? Why is it so hot? She fought to keep her eyes open. She needed to find out why she was here. Where was Henry? She was supposed to see him. "Henry," she mumbled before her eyes closed.

"This is my fault," Emma said as she paced the floor.

"Emma, you can't blame yourself," Snow said.

"Who else is there to blame? Regina was right, I didn't think of the consequences when I saved Marian. I didn't even once consider that I wasn't doing the right thing. Now, now all these kids are sick and Regina, she … Dr. Whale is concerned. I can tell. He doesn't know what this disease is exactly because he isn't from the Enchanted Forest, and he doesn't understand why Regina is the only adult affected by it."

"It doesn't make any sense. It's a childhood disease."

"Have you ever seen it?"

"No," Snow said. "I've heard of it. Most people in our world probably have, but no, I have never known anyone who got it."

"If anything happens to Regina, how can I ever face Henry again?"

Snow stood and stopped her daughter from pacing. "There is no reason to jump to the idea that anything is going to happen to her or anyone else. This world, it's light years ahead of the Enchanted Forest when it comes to understanding and combating diseases. Have a little faith in Dr. Whale and his people."

"You didn't see the look on Henry's face. He … I didn't even ask Dr. Whale how Regina was doing. He called Tink and asked her to go over to the hospital to check on her. He told her that someone that cared about her should go over and check on her since I wouldn't let him stay there and I didn't have any answers."

"This isn't a reflection of you. He's worried about her."

Emma sat down, "You know when we found out that Marian was Robin's wife, Regina, she said I had better hope I didn't bring anything else back from the past and the first thing I thought was she was making some sort of veiled threat about being the Evil Queen again. I jumped to that first, and I don't know why. She was never the Evil Queen to me because all I have ever known her as was Regina. I know, I know you all had this past with her but it didn't mean much to me because I didn't live through it. The Regina I know has changed. She really has changed from that woman who tried to run me out of town and keep me from Henry. Then I became the one keeping her from Henry. I was going to take him to New York and it didn't matter to me that she was his mom because I was his mom. I thought I had spent all these years with him as his mom and I wasn't going to share that anybody. I've messed up, and now I don't know what to do."

Tink was nervous going into the hospital. She didn't like the idea of disease and having seen what Skiver Fever did do a child, she had no desire to be anywhere near it. But she couldn't say no to Henry, although she did wonder why he sounded a little antagonistic toward Emma. She supposed the real reason she was there was because of Regina.

Despite their past, she liked Regina. When she found out that Robin was the man with the lion tattoo she was practically giddy with the idea that it had finally happened. It had taken years but there he was – Regina's second chance.

Then this mess with Marian had taken it away. She had gone to see Regina, as it turns out it was not long after Robin had gone to see her. She was somewhat surprised that Regina was taking it so well. She had made it clear to Tink that she wasn't going to interfere with Robin and Marian. She seemed reasonable, calm and accepting of the situation, which naturally set off alarm bells in Tink's head. Either Regina had truly changed more than Tink had ever imagined or in losing her second chance Regina had lost something else.

She hadn't seemed like her normal fiery self when speaking with Tink. Maybe it was because she had already contracted the fever but hadn't fallen sick yet. Or maybe, after all of that had happened in her life, Regina was done. That thought scared her now more than ever. Skiver Fever was nearly 100 percent fatal. There were rare cases of children making it through, but they were never the same afterward. Tink had known such a child – a Lost Boy. Some of the other boys were asking him one day what was the worst part of it – and she was surprised he had said the hallucinations. He said, "you want to die, but I kept telling myself I wasn't ready." She wondered now how ready Regina was.

She walked to the nurses' station seeing the looks on the faces of the parents. They knew what their children had. They knew the chances of survival were minimal. They were scared, they were crying and the raw emotion of it almost made Tink turn around and leave.

She got to the station. "I am here to see Regina Mills, can you tell me what room she is in?"

The nurse checked the computer. "I am sorry, doctor's orders, no visitors for Miss Mills."

"Can I speak to the doctor then? I am here to check on her condition for her son since he isn't allowed in."

"The doctor is busy as you can see."

"Then I will wait. I am not leaving here until I either get to see her or someone explains to me how she is doing."

Tink knocked on Emma's door. It was nearing 10 p.m. but she had promised Henry she would let him know once she found out how Regina was doing. She had been at the hospital for hours and now it all weighed heavy on her.

"Tink," Emma said answering the door. "Come in."

She entered just as Henry came out of his bedroom to see who was there. He had been holed up in his room all day avoiding his mother. Emma could only hope that Tink had good news, but from the way she looked she wasn't counting on it.

"How is mom?" Henry asked.

"She's um … she's not good," Tink said unsure of what to say about what she had learned – what she had seen. "They have cordoned off one of the floors of the hospital for the kids with the fever cases and they have Regina quarantined from them and everyone else."

Her mind flashed to the room, to Regina in that bed her whole body shaking from the chills. The sound of her voice begging someone to turn up the heat, despite a room temperature that was well above 60 degrees. She kept curled up in blankets, shivering from cold only her body or mind seemed to detect. The fever continued to hover in the 100 to 101 range. If she had any realization of where she was or why she was there, she hadn't shown it in the brief time that Tink was able to see her through a glass partition.

"The disease had progressed to the next stage in her. The chills started a couple of hours ago. Dr. Whale said the disease is moving along faster than her than with the kids, but he doesn't know yet if that means she contracted it first."

"Has he gotten anywhere on a cure?" Emma asked.

"Still working on it, but he seemed confident that he could isolate the um antibodies I think he said from Marian's blood."

"Did you get to see mom?" Henry asked. "Did she say anything?"

"One of the nurses said she said your name earlier in the day. But no, nothing while I was there."

"Does she look sick?"

"Yeah Henry," Tink said. "She's still losing fluids, but they are monitoring her around the clock. Dr. Whale said I could come back tomorrow, and I will. I will go see her every day and let you know how she is doing."

"Thank you," he said. "Can you tell her I love her and I want her to get better soon?"

"Of course I will."

He went back to his room, not even looking at Emma.

"Anything else that you couldn't say in front of him?" she asked.

"About Regina? No. But there are a lot of frightened parents in that hospital. A piece of advice, don't go anywhere near there," Tink said. "It's a small town, and it's already spread around that Marian was the one who had this. For your sake, it's probably best if you didn't show up there. I am not saying anyone would do or say anything, but they are frightened for their kids and it doesn't make for a good situation right now."

"Yeah," Emma said. "I am already getting the taste of the cold shoulder as you can see."

"That's not about you, he is worried about Regina."

"You are the second person to tell me that today."

"My point is that you should worry less about how badly the kid is making you feel and think about he feels," she said. "His mom is most likely going to die. I have seen this disease more often than I care to think about. You see when you are a fairy, people are always sending up pleas for help of different types. The worst are when it's a parent who had no choice but to plea for a magical cure for a child that is suffering. That is what this disease does – it makes the child suffer. And there is no magical cure."


	4. Chapter 4

Emma went down to Granny's to get a bite of breakfast. Henry had turned her down not surprisingly. She hadn't slept well at all. Tink's final words kept replaying in her mind. She sat at the counter and ordered a coffee – food suddenly didn't sound appealing.

By the time the coffee arrived so had Killian.

"Morning Swan," he said, sitting down beside her. "I thought you, me, Henry could go for a sail. It might take his mind off of things."

"I don't think that is going to work," she said. "Plus we shouldn't be too far away if the hospital would call."

"Then why don't you see if Snow can watch Henry and we will go out. I saw the look on your face when Whale said it was Marian who was the carrier. Come on, a day away, on the boat, just you and me, it will do you good."

"I can't."

"Swan …"

"Killian, don't. I need to be with Henry right now."

"Fine," he said. "Let me know when you can work me in then."

He left and she just shook her head. She didn't need this on top of everything else. She got her coffee to go and was headed back up stairs. Henry was sitting on the couch playing a video game so she took a seat beside him. He continued to play, not acknowledging her.

"I'm sorry Henry. I am sorry you have to be here instead of being at the hospital with your mom. If it weren't a risk for you to be there, I would take you there in a second to be with her. You know that, right?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I am trying here kid," she said. "I get it. I messed up big time."

"When she gets out of the hospital I was thinking I should stay with her for a while to make sure she recovers," he said, still not looking at her.

"I am sure she would appreciate that," she said wondering if Henry meant to be there on a more permanent basis or if this was just a reaction to him being mad at her.

"I just lost my dad, I can't lose her too. If she dies though, I don't want to have a funeral. I don't want people saying bad things about her. I don't want people there because no one else but maybe Tink cares about her."

"Hey, you listen to me; she's not going to die. Do you realize how tough Regina is? She's going to get through this."  
"What if she doesn't?" he asked looking at her this time. "What if she dies there all alone? She only wanted to be loved, and no one loves her except for me, and I can't even be there to tell her myself."

"She knows you love her," Emma said. "She would never doubt that."

Dr. Whale peered through the microscope. He had only slept a couple of hours – working to find a cure for this fever which now affected close to 30 children. It was an interesting disease from a purely scientific standpoint. From what he had been told the phases each patient went through didn't vary, but the time a patient was in each phase did vary. Regina had hit the chill phase the day before and by this morning he had to order a morphine drip due to the aches she was experiencing.

The children were either in phase one of dehydration and phase two fever. Only one had reached the chill phase and that was only in the last hour. Trying to track the progression of the disease from child to child was near impossible.

But Regina was different from the others, and not just because she was an adult. The children were all lucid, able to talk and answer questions. They were sick no doubt and getting worse, but this disease had hit Regina like a train. Even when she spoke to say she was hot or cold or in pain, it came out as short statements not directed at anyone. She wasn't reacting to any stimuli and seemed to be in a constant state of semi-consciousness.

The scientist in him was fascinated by this disease and what it was doing to her. He had ordered another blood panel from her this morning and was considering a spinal tap since the disease, while caused by a virus he was able to isolate, it had neurological symptoms which suggested a possible connection to the central nervous system.

She had undergone an MRI that morning so he could have a look at her brain. He would do another after the hallucinations started. It would be good test to see which areas of the brain became active at that point. It might also be beneficial to his personal research.

While he would never forgive Regina for bringing him here, he had to admit the scientific research of this world was far superior. Ever since he remembered who he was, he had been reading more and more research about the brain for his own purposes.

Now he had a disease, and a lab rat. He was more than willing to let this disease run its course in Regina.

The medical staff would never question his course of treatment of her and since she had no family, there was no one to stop him.

He had been telling the truth to Emma about keeping Henry away since he was born in this world. There was no reason to take any chances with his health by letting him visit Regina. It just happened to have the added benefit of isolating her more.

Tink could be a problem, but based on how pale she had gotten seeing Regina, he doubted she would be suspicious if he ordered other tests on her.

The kids though, he needed to find away to save them.

But what he was looking at now confirmed what he had thought upon an initial survey of Marian's blood – there were no antibodies. The only thing he could think of was that while she was a carrier, since she didn't have the disease her body hadn't produced any antibodies to combat it. The human body was actually quite resilient. It often found its own defenses against disease. But since she was an adult she wouldn't be susceptible to getting ill therefore her body would have no reason to produce antibodies.

It was puzzling and he knew he was running out of time.

Emma pulled into the hospital lot with her sirens going, but immediately turned them off. There was some sort of disturbance inside, and despite her father saying he could handle it, she knew she had to go. Selfishly, she thought while there maybe she could find out about Regina's condition and then Henry might stop his silent war with her. She was getting no where with him, and had made the mistake of suggesting taking Hook up on his offer to take them out for a ride to take their mind off of things.

That had been a mistake and only seemed to confirm for him that Emma didn't care that Regina was sick. Although he had taken it a step further than that.

"You don't even care that this is all your fault," he had yelled at her before storming off to his room.

She walked into the hospital where several men and women were yelling at each other with her dad in the middle trying to get them to calm down.

"This is your fault," a guy was saying to a woman. "If you hadn't have let him go to that sleepover he wouldn't have gotten this."

"Hey, you don't know that he got it from Billy. Billy could have easily have gotten this from your son. Judging by you, he's probably not the cleanest of kids," another guy yelled back.

They made a grab at each other and Charming stepped in pulling one of them back, but the other was still trying to get to him – through Charming. Emma stepped forward and grabbed him to pull him back.

"Get your hands off my husband," a woman yelled as she tried to intercede. Emma pushed her back lightly but the woman fell backward. The man she was tussling with tried to break free to get to who Emma guessed was his wife, and in the struggle elbowed her under the chin. Emma let go, feeling dazed by it.

"Everyone calm down!" Charming said in a raised voice. "I know this is difficult for you. But you have to calm down. This isn't helping anyone. It doesn't matter where your kids got it, the important thing is that a cure is found."

"Easy for you to say," another man who hadn't been involved in it said. "It's not like your child is in there dying."

"No, his child is the reason we are all here," a woman said.

Everyone seemed to quiet down at once and they were all looking at Emma.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know."

The woman who she had knocked to the floor on accident was up now, her husband had his arm around her. She walked over to Emma, and even as she saw it coming she made no move to stop it as the slap connected with her face. It didn't hurt, not physically at least. The rest of the parents moved away back to their seats. Even the two families that had been fighting sat together, their argument forgotten in the face of a common enemy.

"Let's get out of here," Charming suggested.

"No," she said. "I have something to do first. Do me a favor, go talk to Henry. He's … he's upset, and nothing I say seems to be coming out right lately."

She didn't wait for a response as she walked past all the accusing eyes in search of Dr. Whale.


	5. Chapter 5

Emma had walked on by anyone and everyone. If someone wanted to stop her, they were going to have to do it by force. She barely even knocked before entering Whale's office.

"Sheriff," he said sternly.

"I need to see Regina."

"That isn't possible."

"You let Tink see her yesterday."

"Things have changed since then."

"I don't care. Take me to her."

Whale didn't even try to hide his annoyance as he stood. "Follow me," he said. They walked to the elevator.

"How is she?"

Whale didn't answer, which made Emma even more angry than she already was.

"How is she?"

"She's dying and at this point there isn't anything I can do to stop it," he said as if he was telling her the weather forecast. Emma had never liked the man – found him to be creepy – but now he seemed downright cold.

"What about Marian's blood? I thought you were going to try to and get the antibodies from it or something."

The elevator came and they boarded it.

"There were none in her blood. She may be a carrier, but there is no evidence the disease has ever tried to take hold in her, therefore her body had no reason to produce antibodies to combat it. It's a dead end."

Emma felt like she had been slapped again – only this time it hurt and the sting wasn't going away.

"What are you going to do then?"

"You mean after you are done bothering me with your ridiculous demands as if I don't have patients who are sick and suffering? I still have some options to try, but it's not like we have a full high-tech virology lab here. We aren't the CDC."

"Then maybe we should call them in."

Whale laughed in an emotionless way that made her skin crawl. Thankfully the elevator doors opened and she was no longer in a confined space with him.

"You would expose Storybrooke to the world by doing that."  
"Yes, but if saved lives."

"It could doom just as many lives," Whale said. "Are you familiar with the history of this country at all? When the Europeans came here they brought with them diseases that the natives had no immunity to. Disease wiped out hundreds of thousands of people. Some estimates go as high as millions of people. Entire tribes and cultures were wiped from the planet all because the Europeans settled here. This is no different. You introduced a disease into a land that has no natural immunity to it. Do you want thousands or millions of people's deaths on your conscious?"

"But there has to be something we can do."

"There is nothing you can do sheriff beyond wasting my time, but if you are truly determined to see what your actions have wrought, follow me."

She paused a moment before following. She had to see.

They made her put on a mask, although Whale said it was doubtful she would catch any thing from the kids. He said it was only a precaution that he was isolating them, but was prepared to lift that isolation for the parents downstairs. Seeing their kids may go a long way to helping ease the tensions in the waiting areas.

They stopped at the first room. "Alex, age 8," Whale said. "He was one of the last cases to come in but as you can see he has already advanced to the stage where he has the chills."

Emma saw the poor boy trying to huddle in his blankets for warmth, although Emma could tell the temp in the room was higher than out in the hall. A nurse was sitting beside him trying to coax him into eating.

"The next stage for him will be the aches," Whale said. "At which point we will need to start him on pain medicine. And the aches while painful, are nothing compared to what these kids will experience when the real pain starts after the hallucinations."

They went to the next room, and the next. At each room Whale would tell her the kid's name, age and which phase they were in. Each kid looked pale, small, weak and miserable. Only one kid had entered the phase of having aches and Emma stood in his room watching has he kept moving around as each movement was designed to try and find comfort but brought only pain. He was crying as a nurse tried to soothe his mind if nothing else. He was 7.

"Seen enough?" Whale asked.

"Regina. I need to see Regina."

"Suit yourself."

She was surprised when they went up another floor. It was empty except for some nurses. "We have no isolation wing here so we cleaned out an old lab room and put a bed in it for her. This way we can observe her from this room here," he explained as he held the door open for her. She entered and immediately saw the glass partition – a window about three feet square. She walked up to it and turned to Whale.

"Why do you have her restrained?"

"It's merely a precaution."

"A precaution for what?"

"Sheriff I don't tell you how to do your job, and I don't need you to tell me how to do mine."

Emma looked back into the room. There were straps on each of Regina's arms that held her down to the bed. She looked about 10 times worse than any of the kids she had seen. Regina's hair was plastered down from being damp, her skin had a sheen of sweat on it and Emma had seen more color in some corpses than Regina was exhibiting right now. Like the boy who had the aches, she was moving around a lot, but instead of crying she was making clear sounds of being in pain.

"Can't you give her something more for the pain?"

"I could," Whale said, knowing full well the IV that was now attached to her contained only a saline solution, no pain medication. "The nurses tell me the pain will get worse so it's best not to rush to a high dosage."

When she wasn't making sounds of pain, Regina seemed to be mumbling but none of the words were clear enough for Emma to make out. She wasn't even sure if Regina was awake. She didn't care what Whale said, she saw no reason for Regina to be strapped down like that. If anything it would probably cause her more discomfort as it restricted any attempts at becoming more comfortable.

Before she could say anything, Regina tugged against the restraints and white light came out of her right hand for a matter of seconds. Then her body started to shake.

"She's having a seizure," Whale said rushing from the room.

Emma watched as Whale and two nurses went into Regina's room. Another burst of white light came out of her hand and she could see one of the nurses preparing a syringe while the other nurse tried to hold Regina down. In the grips of the seizure she was thrashing about. The first nurse handed the syringe to Whale who plunged it into her IV. It took several moments but Regina's body finally started to relax from the sedative that was now spreading through her system.

Emma backed away from the window. She brought her right hand up, studying it. She could have sworn she felt something – almost like the tingling sensation you get when feeling returns to a limb that has fallen asleep. She had only felt it for a few seconds, but something about it felt familiar.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma sat in her cruiser in the hospital parking lot for at least 40 minutes after leaving. She had more words with Whale after Regina's seizure. She had insisted he take the restraints off of her, but he refused. She didn't like seeing Regina like that, and the whole thing felt off to her. She couldn't say why though.

The tingling sensation had left her hand almost as soon as it had started. The white light that came from Regina's hand, she knew that was magic – light magic – but had it caused that feeling in her and if so why? She knew just enough about magic not to make a complete fool of herself, but she was no where near Regina's level.

Regina was barely conscious though which meant if she was doing magic she may not even realize she was doing it. Maybe Whale was right by putting some precautions in place, but even as she had the thought her stomach turned with the distaste of it.

She knew Whale was taking some glee in pointing out to her that this was all her fault, but at least when he was in the kids' rooms, even with his clinical discussions of their symptoms, there was something about him that told Emma he cared.

She didn't get that sense when they were talking about Regina. She could be reading more into it though. She was tired, she was stressed and she needed to get home to Henry.

Dr. Whale watched as the nurse took another blood sample from Regina. He wondered how many times Regina had personally oversaw an execution or the outright murder she had ordered. The woman had no redeeming qualities as far as he was concerned. The nurse handed him the vial of her blood. "Prep her for a spinal tap," he said.

Emma got home to Henry who was watching TV. She sat beside him.

"I saw Regina," she said. "She's um ….she's not doing well and Whale hasn't been able to find a cure. He still says you can't come to the hospital. I wish you could. I think it would do her good to know you were there."

"Did she say anything?"

"No. She's too sick. She was asleep most of the time I was able to see her."

Silence.

"Thank you for checking on her," Henry said finally.

"I will check on her tomorrow too. I promise."

She got up and went to take a hot shower. Hospitals in general weren't her favorite places in the world and now she felt – well she wasn't sure how to explain because it sounded crazy to her, but she felt sweaty and she hadn't done anything to sweat. She stripped down and turned the water to hot. She readjusted the temperature slightly upon getting in. She had no real interest in washing her hair or anything she just wanted to feel the water. She was part way through her shower when she felt a stabbing pain in her lower back which actually caused her to cry out loud. But it was over a second later.

She rubbed her lower back but didn't feel anything. Weird, she thought. It felt like someone had jammed a needle in her.

The pain brought Regina awake. Her whole body ached. Even opening her eyes seemed to hurt. "Water," she said to no one. The room it's bare, she thought, even for a hospital. "Water."

She tried to move, her back feeling more uncomfortable than the rest of her. She thought if she moved on her side it might help. But when she tried to move, she realized she couldn't. Why were there leather straps on her arms? She tried to move again. Not just on my arms, she thought. She could feel them on her legs to.

She moved her head to the side. There was a table there and one of those small plastic pitchers hospitals have along with its matching cup. Water. She needed water. She heard a door open and could barely make out a figure that was walking toward her.

"Water," she said again.

"Don't worry dear. I know you are thirsty. I will take care of you."

The voice sounded familiar but her vision was blurry. She concentrated and the blobby figure began to sharpen in her eyes.

"Mom?"

"Yes, my dear. I am here to take care of you."

"But … but you're dead."

"Of course I am," Cora said. "Don't you remember you killed me? You gave me back my heart – something I never had any use for. Just like you don't. But we can rectify that."

Regina screamed as Cora's hand went into her chest pulling out her heart.

The phone rang, waking Whale from his sleep on his fold out bed in his office.

"Yes," he said.

"Doctor. It's Regina. Her hallucinations have started."

"I will be right up. And call down to the lab and see if they have results of her latest blood tests and spinal tap. If they don't tell them they better have them to me within the hour."

He checked the time – 3:34 a.m.

He wondered if Regina would make it another 24 hours.

Across town Emma woke to the strangest dream. She got up and went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face. She then went out to the kitchen getting a bottle of water from the fridge. She was thirsty and drank it down completely. She looked at the clock above the fridge – it was just after 3:30 a.m.

She rubbed her chest above her heart. In her dream Cora had ripped it out of her chest. The feeling of it lingered with her and she wondered if she would be able to get back to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

"These latest brain scans are amazing," Dr. Whale said out loud. He was in his office looking at the latest scans he had performed on Regina. They had to strap her down to the hospital bed even more than before. He needed her not to be sedated in order to get these scans. Her brain activity was through the roof. Ever since the hallucinations had started her whole brain lit up on the scans.

The hallucinations were a little problematic, but he had specifically assigned nurses to watch over Regina who like him didn't mind seeing the former queen get hers. He ordered her gagged in addition to bound to the bed. She was being too vocal with the hallucinations – sometimes screaming, sometimes just pleading for help.

The strange white light that had happened the night before had occurred three more times, each time seeming to be stronger than the last.

He had already sent Tink away that morning telling her that it wasn't a good time and she should come back that afternoon. He would have to arrange for Regina to look a little more presentable before Tink or the sheriff was allowed to see her again.

It had been 11 hours since her hallucinations had started and so far she was the only one in that phase. He hadn't come up with anything even remotely helpful so far. While he was able to help with the pain the kids were experiencing, it wasn't enough.

Regina being sick still didn't make any sense. No other adult was sick. He had even allowed the parents in to the children's room and no one had contracted it. So what made Regina different? There had to be something there.

A knock to his door interrupted his thinking. His head nurse came in – a woman named Lila, who he had discovered to be most loyal. Her brother had been killed by Regina's army in the Enchanted Forest for speaking out against the queen so she was all in for whatever he wanted to do with Regina. "Her latest blood work," she said. "I think you will want to see this."

She laid two pieces of paper side by side in front of him.

He picked them both up, looking from one to the other. "This isn't possible," he said. "Test her again."

….

Emma's head started to droop, but she shook off the sleepiness and tried to concentrate on her work. She hadn't been able to get back to sleep the night before. She couldn't get comfortable no matter how hard she tried. When she decided to get up, she felt sore – especially around her wrists, which was the least of the strangeness that was feeling.

She kept seeing things just in her peripheral vision. As she was walking to her car that morning, she caught glimpse of movement to her right and when she turned for a second she could have sworn she saw Cora standing there. She was so shocked she actually fell back against her car.

Then she was on patrol and it happened again – only this time she saw a girl, a teenager, but she didn't get the chance to look twice at her before she disappeared. It took her a while to think of where she had seen her before and then she realized – she looked like a young Regina.

She figured it was stress. The last couple of days had been nothing but stress, and clearly it was affecting her mental state. It was the physical aches in her body she didn't understand. Her whole body felt stiff at times, and other times she would feel pain near her ankles or wrists. Her mouth felt dry too.

"Emma!"

"Tink? What are you doing here?"

"Whale has now put me off twice from seeing Regina. I think there is something wrong there. Will you come with me?"

"Yeah, let's go."

She followed Tink out and as she was passing one of the interrogation rooms she stopped. The door was open and there was someone in there. She stepped toward the door.

"Emma," Tink said. "What's wrong?"

Emma looked into the room. There was no one there.

"Nothing," Emma said. "I thought I saw … nevermind let's get to the hospital."

…

"As I tried to tell Tink earlier, I can't work if I am going to be constantly interrupted," Whale said as he escorted the two women up in the elevator. "Regina is in the next to the last stage of this thing and I should be working on a cure, not giving you two a tour."

"You could have let us come up on our own. You are the one who insisted on the escort," Emma said. She was liking Whale less and less the more she was around him. She understood that he too was stressed, but his behavior was going to the extreme.

They got the floor and Whale led them to the observation area. "I am going in her room," Emma said.

"Sheriff I can't risk you contracting this and spreading it around town."

"Your staff has been going in and out and so far no adults but Regina has gotten it so I will take my chances."

"Suit yourself."

He opened the door for her and she and Tink entered with him on their heels. Regina looked even worse than the day before. The bed was a little more propped up so she wasn't lying flat on her back. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping. She approached the bed. The strain this disease had taken on her body was more apparent up close. Her skin was pale and dry, her lips cracked. She had lost weight to her already thin frame.

Emma had noticed she was no longer restrained but she could see the marks on Regina's wrist from where she had been strapped down. It was red and purplish as if it was bruised – maybe from pulling against it. Emma touched the wrist closest to her, her fingertips barely brushing over the area that looked the worst.

"Emma."

It was said so softly Emma wasn't sure she hadn't been hearing things but when she looked at Regina's face her eyes were open.

"Hey," Emma said giving her a small smile.

"He's waiting for me," she said her eyes already starting to close. "He's waiting and I have to go. You have to help me."

"See, I told you she isn't lucid," Whale said stepping forward. "She's been hallucinating all day."

"I … I have to leave. Have to get out of here. You help."

Her eyes closed and Emma swallowed suddenly feeling scared. She couldn't explain why but she felt fear—like she needed to flee this place.

"I hope you are now satisfied sheriff," Whale said.

"Yeah," Emma said backing up. She couldn't stop looking at Regina even as her mind was screaming at her to get out.

Whale didn't accompany them back to the elevator so it was just her and Tink.

"Sorry for bringing you here," Tink said. "I guess everything is ok, I mean as much as things can be ok with what is going on. I don't know, Whale gives me the creeps and when he wouldn't let me see Regina I got worried. Emma?"

"Huh, what?"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she said. "I just can't shake this feeling that Regina is running out of time."

"She is," Tink said bluntly. "After this, the pain will tear her apart."

"Thanks for not sugar coating it."

"Sorry," she said.

Emma fell silent and Tink watched her as Emma unconsciously rubbed at her wrist.

….

"I gave her a full dose of sedative," the nurse said to Whale. "She shouldn't have woken up."

"There is nothing we can do about it now," he said looking at Regina. "The second set of blood tests confirmed the first ones. Somehow this virus has mutated inside of her. While it's nearly identical to the original virus, even the smallest of changes can change the course of a disease. It could kill her faster or slower, there is no way of knowing."

"She is no longer of any use for trying to cure the children, is she?"

"No," he said frustrated. "We need to find the answer elsewhere. I still want her monitored and tested. I am not done with her yet."

…

Regina opened her eyes. Emma, she thought, where did Emma go? She tried to move and again found she was bound to the bed. Her mind was foggy and it felt like each thought was taking about 10 minutes to form in her mind before she comprehended it. Her mind was telling her she needed to leave this place. She had somewhere else she was supposed to be. She looked down at the straps and used her magic to make them fall off.

Step one, she thought. She moved down the bed, past the sideboards and let her feet dangle from the edge. Standing, she needed to try standing. Two women came running into the room. "Miss Mills you have to lie back down," one of them said.

"He's waiting for me," she said waving her hand and both women fell back asleep.

She let her feet make contact with the floor and kept her hand on the bed to keep from falling.

Step two, she thought, now if I can actually take some steps. It was slow going, and her body ached with each movement she made but she made it to the door and using the walls to lean against she made her way to the elevator. She stared at the two buttons –one triangle up, one a triangle down – which one did she want? She couldn't get her mind to tell her so she touched the one easiest for her to touch – the down button.

Once the doors opened she stumbled into the elevator landing on her knees first and then rolling over so she was sitting.

"Stand up you foolish girl."

She looked up to see her mother standing there.

"Do I have to do everything?" Cora said and she reached to touch one of the elevator buttons. Regina felt the carriage begin to move down. "Stand up Regina."

Regina reached for the wall and pulled herself up. She leaned her whole body against the back of the elevator.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Well I am sure I don't know. This is your mind trip, not mine."

"But I am going somewhere," Regina said.

The doors opened and she made her way out. She heard another "Miss Mills," and saw another nurse. She waved her hand again and the woman fell back asleep. Her mind told her it would be easier if all of them were asleep, all except the children. She cast a spell and she saw people drop where they stood.

Better, her mind told her. Now you can leave.

She used the wall to move and stopped at the nearest room. Inside was a child on a bed, his parents were asleep on the floor.

"He's sick," Regina said.

"They are all sick."

"Why?"

"Because some things shouldn't be messed with," Cora said.

"I want to help," Regina said.

"Of course you do," Cora said dismissively. "Ever trying to make up for your own sins."

Regina ignored her and went into the room. The boy was shivering cold under a set of blankets. Regina placed her hand on his forehead, which was hot with fever. "Why does this seem familiar?" she asked her mother, who was standing in the doorway.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Regina looked at the boy; his suffering was like a chain pulling on her heart. Her hand lit up with magic – the white light infusing the boy's body. He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I … I don't know."

She stumbled back from him and exited the room. In each room she found a child and placed a hand on him or her, calling forth the magic inside of her. After the last one, she felt her strength all but tapped.

"Are we quite done here?" Cora asked.

Regina was barely keeping herself upright. "Why is this familiar?" she asked again. "Why mother?"

But Cora was gone and her mind was telling her something else – no reminding of something that it had been trying to tell her since she woke.

"He's waiting for me," she said as she left the last child healed in her bed and made her way once again to the elevators. "I have to leave. He's waiting for me."


	8. Chapter 8

Emma still couldn't sleep and she couldn't shake the feeling there was someplace else she was supposed to be. It was well past midnight when she got up and decided to go for a drive to clear her head. She left Henry a note and quietly left. She drove around for a while, thinking mostly of Regina. There was something wrong with that whole situation and she couldn't figure out why.

Earlier her hand was tingling like it had when Regina had done the magic in the hospital bed. Except this time it kept going. It would go on and off over the course of nearly an hour.

She stopped a stop sign. If she turned right she could swing by the hospital, maybe check on Regina without Whale being in attendance for once. But she continued to sit there in her car not moving. For some reason going to the hospital felt wrong. She couldn't explain it but it wasn't where she needed to be.

She made a left instead and headed out of the city proper.

Emma drove like she knew where she was going, but she didn't, not consciously at least.

…

Regina couldn't believe she had made it. Her body was wracked by pain, fever, chills and the constant nagging of her mother, but she had made it. She hadn't even recalled how she got there – magic maybe.

She entered Storybrooke Stables, breathing in the familiar scent of the horses. She had funded the entire construction of the stables and bought the initial horses for it, but she rarely came here. It hurt too much to come here.

"Why are you here?" Cora asked.

"I have to wait for him."

"By him I assume you mean that stable boy?"

"His name is Daniel," Regina said mustering up as much anger as she could toward her mother. "He'll be here. He promised."

"And do you think you will actually get your happy ending this time? You do realize you are dying, don't you?"

Regina considered the words. Dying. Was that true? Is that why she was in the hospital?

"It doesn't matter," she said. "Daniel is coming to get me and that is all that matters. You can't stop us this time."

"Of course I can't, I am dead, just like Daniel is, just like you will be soon."

Regina felt an enormous burst of pain that drove her to the ground. It was unlike anything she had felt previously.

"You are entering the last phase," Cora said. "It won't be long now."

Regina cried out as the pain got worse and worse. Tears were running down her face as the pain tore through her body. She heard the sound of something breaking and fell forward trying to muffle her screams with the ground. Her entire midsection felt like it was on fire.

There was another sound of breaking – the pain this time in her upper chest region and left arm. She rolled over on her back. "Daniel," she pleaded. Where was he? He was supposed to be here.

Cora bent down over her daughter. "I'm sorry my daughter, but this time I can't save you from this."

"What?" she choked. This time, what did she mean by that? But Cora was standing and walking away. "No! Don't leave me please."

Even her mother's company would be preferable to dying alone.

"Regina!"

She heard her name being called out and then there was someone there kneeling beside her. She smiled. Her Daniel had finally come.

He was holding her in his arms telling her it would be ok. She believed him. She was going to die, but it didn't matter, they were going to be together. She struggled to move in arms. Her left arm hung useless but she reached with her right and pulled him down – their lips met and she kissed him.

The wave of magic burst forth and she fell unconscious.

"What the hell," Emma said in surprise as she held onto Regina.

She finally lifted Regina up and carried her to her car placing her gently in the back seat. She needed to get Regina back to the hospital. Even as she pulled away she could feel the sensation of Regina's lips on hers.

She still didn't know why she had gone to the stables, but upon getting out of her car she heard Regina screaming in pain. She had run to her, gathering her up in her arms while trying to use one hand to dial for an ambulance, but then Regina had kissed her.

The magic that had been released in that kiss – she recognized it. It felt the same as when she kissed Henry in the hospital to break the sleeping curse.

Emma looked back at Regina's sleeping form.

"It's not possible," she said.


	9. Chapter 9

"Somebody help me," Emma yelled as she entered the hospital carrying Regina's limp form.

A man grabbed her from her arms and placed her on a gurney wheeling her into a room. She followed but a nurse stopped her. "You can't go in there," she said.

Emma backed off a step.

"Was that the mayor?"

Emma turned to see a woman standing nearby. She nodded, still a little winded from carrying Regina.

"Is she going to be ok?" the woman asked trying to sneak a peek into the ER room where they had taken Regina.

"I don't know," Emma said. She noticed there seemed to be a flurry activity going on in the hospital. There were a lot of people in the halls talking, including children, children who seemed familiar. "What's going on here?"

"The mayor, Regina, she healed all the children. Then she just walked out and left the kids said. She put all the adults asleep and went from room to room and laid her hand on the children and healed them. The children all said she was sick though."

"Yeah, she … I think some of her bones broke."

"She has to be ok. I need to tell the others she is here."

Dr. Whale passed her going into the ER room and a moment later they were taking Regina out of the room and into the elevator.

"Where is he taking her?" she asked a nurse whom she stopped.

"Up to surgery."

Emma turned and walked from the hospital. She got into her car and drove home – she needed to get Henry and bring him to see his mother. It would be safe now for him to see her. She didn't know how she knew that, she just did. She pulled into her home and stopped the car. She brought her hand up and touched her lips. Why had Regina kissed her and why did it release magic like that?

…

Regina opened her eyes.

"Mom!"

She turned her head and saw Henry sitting in a chair next to the hospital bed she was lying in.

"What happened? Why am I in a hospital?" She asked taking note of the cast on her arm and the other bandages she could feel on her body.

"You don't remember?"

"No. Did something happen? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he said taking her hand. "You got sick though. You've been here for the better part of the week."

"A week? Did I fall or something? How did I break my arm and ..." she tried sitting up more fully but felt pain in her midsection. She used felt around her abdomen where she had been bandaged up as well.

"You and a bunch of kids got sick. It was something called Skiver Fever. You were really sick and I guess some of your bones broke."

"Skiver Fever. That's not possible only children get it and it isn't in this world ..." she sighed. "One of them brought with them through the portal, didn't they?"

"Marian."

"Is she ok? Did she get sick too?"

"No she's fine. Dr Whale said she was just a carrier whatever that means. You were the only adult to get it."

"That's good. Roland and Robin shouldn't have to worry about losing her again. Wait did you or Roland?"

"No. We are fine. All the kids are fine."

"I take it Dr Whale was able to find a cure."

"Um no ... you um healed all the children with your magic."

Her eyes narrowed, "there is no way to heal it with magic and even if there was I wouldn't even begin to know how to do it. And how did I get it?"

Henry shrugged. "I'm just glad you are better. I was worried. They wouldn't let me be here because they didn't want to risk me getting it. But I wanted to be here with you."

"They were right not to let you but it means the world to me that you'd want to be here."

"Of course I did," he squeezed her hand. "I sent Tink in to check on you though and Emma checked on you too."

"That was nice of them," she said. "Um Henry why are there a bunch of flowers in here?"

She had noticed several vases of flowers near the window.

His face lit up, "like I said you cured like 30 children. Those are thank yous from their parents."

She looked again at the flowers too shocked to say anything.

"Regina."

She turned to the door as Dr. Whale entered.

"Dr. Whale. I understand from Henry you and your staff had their hands full."

"She doesn't remember anything," Henry added.

"You don't remember any of it?"

"No. The last thing I remember was being at home and then waking up here. Henry has been filling me in about everyone getting sick. This was really Skiver Fever?"

"Yes, no thanks to our sheriff. She introduced a rather deadly disease into this world."

"She didn't do it on purpose," she said.

"Be that as it may she did. And I am still left with questions. I was hoping you would consent to some testing."

"I thought everyone is ok now?"

"Yes, they are, but in order to make sure there isn't another outbreak I would like to run more tests – nothing too invasive. Given your memory loss it would be a good idea to take some brain scans too."

"Ok."

Dr. Whale looked at her like he was expecting more. "Ok then. I will get them scheduled."

"How many bones did I break?"

"Your arm, your collarbone, and three ribs. You will need to be in the cast and sling for now. It can take anywhere from six to 10 weeks for injuries such as yours to heal completely. Other than the broken bones you are healthy. After we run these tests we can talk about discharging you."

"Thank you."

"Um right," Whale said leaving.

Henry was watching his mother the entire time. Something was different about her, but he couldn't place what it was exactly beyond the tone she was using. It was softer, less forceful than he was used to seeing her talk to people.

There was a knock on the door frame and Regina turned to see Emma there.

"Hey kid, can I have a moment?"

"I'll be right back," Henry said heading out the door to speak to his other mother.

Emma led him around the corner where Hook was standing. "How is she?"

"She's ok," Henry said. "You could have said hi."

"I am the reason she's in there so let's just give a few days ok?"

He nodded. "She doesn't remember being sick. She said the last thing she remembers was being at home."

"She doesn't remember anything, not being sick or um … leaving the hospital?" She hadn't told any one really happened when she found Regina. In fact she had told them she found her trying to walk to her home.

What happened at the stables was some kind of weird fluke she told herself.

"No, nothing. Dr. Whale is going to run more tests on her."

"Why? She's supposed to be ok now."

"He said he wants to make sure nothing like this happens again."

"You are sure she's ok?"

"Yes," he said. "I mean she seems little different."

"Different how?" she asked concerned.

"I don't know, just different."

Emma bit her bottom lip then turned to Hook. "Maybe we shouldn't do this today."

"Everyone is fine. You heard the lad, Regina is fine. A day out on the boat will do you wonders," Hook said. "Come on Swan."

She turned back to Henry. "Snow is going to pick you up. I will be home late and call me if anything happens."

"Ok," he said.

"Alright. Just call if you need something."

"I will. I'm going to head back in there."

"Yeah. Tell Regina … tell her I am glad she is ok."

"I will," he said leaving.

"Shall we," Hook smiled offering Emma his arm. She took it and they walked out of the hospital.

Henry returned to Regina's room.

"Emma says she is glad you are ok."

"Is she ok? She looked like she hadn't been sleeping."

"Some people gave her a rough time over the Skiver Fever. I got mad at her too when you got sick. I wasn't very nice to her."

"You understand she had no way of knowing this would happen?"

"I know, but when you first got sick she didn't even ask the doctor how you were doing and then she wanted to go out on the boat with Hook with me. She said it would help take my mind off of things, like I could forget you were here," he said. "That's where she is going now, out on Hook's boat with him."

"Things have gotten serious between them?"

"I guess."

"I thought you and the pirate got along."

"We do. I don't know; he didn't seem to care any of this was going on. There were all these kids sick and you and it didn't seem to affect him in anyway. Everyone else for the most part they were concerned. Even Ruby, she asked how I was doing and if I had any news on you and the kids. I guess this whole thing opened my eyes a bit. Like if you had died, I … I told Emma I didn't want a public funeral because I didn't want any one showing up and saying bad things about you."

"Oh Henry, I am so sorry you even had to think about such thing. I've done bad things, you know this; all of those people out there know this. As long as no one treats you badly because of my actions, I don't care if they say bad things about me. I deserve it."

"No you don't," he said. "You're my mom, and I love you."

"Come here," she said and gave him the best one-armed hug she could manage. "I love you too. I love you so much."

…

Emma looked out at the water as Storybrooke became more distant.

"See a little wind in the sails, the sound of the water against the hull and you will forget all about you worries," Hook said coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her.

If only it was that easy, she thought. She needed to get her mind off of what happened with Regina, but so far the sail wasn't working. She turned in Hook's arms and gave him a forced smile. "Thanks for taking me out."

"My pleasure," he said bending down and kissing her.

She closed her eyes as he closed the distance between them. Their lips touched softly and then he picked up the tempo immediately. A vision of Regina kissing her popped into her head and she broke it off.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. She pulled him in this time determined to wipe Regina from her mind. As she kissed him though she couldn't get past the overwhelming sense of wrongness and she broke it off again.

"Sorry," she said. "I guess the boat movement is making me a little queasy."

"You know a lot of sailors get queasy their first few times on a boat. It's nothing to be ashamed of," he said.

"Maybe we could just sit down for a bit."

They walked over to where the seats were, and she sat down while he messed with some of the rigging.

"I'm going to slow it down a bit for you," he said. "That should do it."

He returned and sat down, putting his arm around her.

"I can't imagine a life where I can't set sail," he said. "It's completely liberating to be able to cast off and go where the wind will take you. Just think of the adventures to be had in this world."

She looked at him "You know we can't go off sailing whenever we like. I am sheriff. I have responsibilities here. I have Henry."

"I know, but that isn't to say you can't take time off on occasion. We can sail up and down the coast. You can show me this world and I will show you the world of the oceans. Now that Regina is well, she can watch Henry when we want to leave."

"You seem to have given this a lot of thought."

"I am not saying we do it now," he said. "But I want to share these adventures with you and only you."

He leaned and kissed her again. The kiss lasted only a minute before she was leaning over the side losing her lunch.

…

"Are you sure you ok?" Henry asked worried as the nurse left the room.

"Yes," Regina said. "I just got nauseous for a moment."

"You just puked."

"Yes well, I guess something from eating didn't sit right in my stomach. They should be coming soon to take up for the MRI anyway and Snow should be here soon to get you."

"Are you sure you will be ok here by yourself?"

She smiled at his attentiveness. "I will be fine."


	10. Chapter 10

Regina rubbed her wrists. The skin was raw and a little bruised on each one. She had noticed it earlier when she woke but hadn't said anything. She assumed it was something connected with her being ill.

"Miss Mills if you could lie down," the nurse said.

She did as instructed and the nurse, Regina thought someone called her Lila, handed her the ear plugs. They explained that the ear plugs were a must given the sound the MRI made. Dr. Whale explained the process to her and that it would take 45 minutes to complete. She wasn't sure of the purpose of the scan, but she had agreed to undergo it. She had thought if Whale thought it was important then she should, but now she found she was slightly nervous about it.

They weren't sedating her, Whale saying he needed her brain to be active for it to work right.

She put the ear plugs in and then she felt a strap being pulled over and she bolted up.

"What's that for?" she said.

"A precaution," Lila said. "Some patients try and move around – even involuntarily – which could harm them and mess up the results. This will help."

"This is normal?"

"Completely."

Regina was skeptical, but laid back down. They put two straps over her – one over her legs and one across her arms and midsection. They were latched through plastic hoops, Regina assumed due to the metal restrictions around the machine, which was basically a huge magnet Whale had said.

They moved her into position, and she almost told them to wait as she felt her heart rate increase. Why was she being so nervous, she wondered. She had never had an MRI before so maybe that was it. She took a deep breath just as Whale said it was about to start.

She closed her eyes, hoping she could stay relaxed through the process.

Even through the ear plugs she could hear the machine as it ran. She tried to think about anything but it. Time seemed to slow to a crawl for her. She got tired of consciously keeping her eyes closed so she opened them – something that would not cause any damage she had been told. She didn't plan on keeping them open as it was, but when she opened them she a burst of white light.

_"What are we going to do?" she heard a man's voice say. It sounded far away or like she was hearing through water. But it was familiar._

_"You mean what am I going to do," a woman's voice answered._

_"She'll die. What good is all your magic if you can't save your own daughter?"_

_Both the voices were familiar, but she couldn't place them. Who were they talking about?_

_"There is someone I could go see who may be able to help," the woman said._

_"Then go. Whoever it is if they can help then we have to do something. I can't lose my baby girl."_

_"Your baby girl," the woman sneered. "You baby her too much."_

_"She's just a child. Your child, something you seem to forget."_

_"I have never forgotten. I push her because she is destined for greatness. If I left it up to you she would be useless."_

_"As long as she isn't useless to you, you don't really care."_

_"Careful of your words, my dear," the woman said threateningly. "Now if I am going go I must go now."_

_She felt someone's hand on her cheek and a kiss placed on her forehead. "You stay strong_ _Regina_ _."_

In a panic, Regina began to push against the straps that held her to the table. Her mind was racing. Her mother. That was her mother and father's voices.

She felt hands on her. She couldn't hear anything – not even the machine. She didn't know if was one or off – her eyes sealed shut from fear.

She felt the table move and then felt a stabbing pain in her arm and then her mind felt like it was draining into a deep pool of nothingness.

….

Regina woke – the residual feeling of a dream chasing her into consciousness. She was still in the hospital – the lights were off and it was dark outside. She wondered how long she had been asleep.

She remembered suddenly the MRI – the voices she had heard. She must have fallen asleep while undergoing the MRI, she reasoned. That was the only explanation – it was a dream. She had never been sick as a child, certainly not deathly ill. And even if she had been she doubted she would have gotten a kiss from her mother. Cora didn't know how to show affection.

It was a dream. It had to be.

….

Lila stood next to Dr. Whale's desk. "You should go home," she told him.

"I will," he said. "I want to go over these results one more time. It doesn't make any sense. She didn't just cure those kids; she created the antibody in their blood. We now have a cure if there would be another outbreak. But there are no antibodies in her blood. It's like there was never a virus there at all. If she healed the kids that way, why isn't it the same with her?"

"You said it yourself the virus was never acting the same with her. She shouldn't even have gotten it and then when it mutated, who knows what happened."

"She does. She has to. Don't you see this could be the key to my research? If I can figure how her magic interacted with her cells to heal her it could potentially be the skeleton key to cure any disease – even death itself. And these MRI readings, they aren't the same as her original ones. While not as high or all encompassing as the scans when she was hallucinating, there is still a higher level of brain activity there, and it spiked right before she had her little episode. There is still something going on in her body, and I need to find out what."

…

Regina was thankful to be able to wear normal clothes. The hospital gown look was something she hoped not to be repeating anytime soon. After a long discussion with Dr. Whale that morning she was finally being released. He had wanted her to stay to do more tests, but she turned him down. After the MRI she was ready to go home. She had agreed however to come back weekly for a checkup and blood work for the next month. She figured it was a small price to pay.

She was in the chair trying to figure out the best way to put shoes on with her one hand when there was a knock on the door frame. She looked up expecting to see Henry, who hadn't been real forthcoming on how she was getting home exactly. Instead there was a woman with a small child, no more than four or five.

"Excuse me Mayor Mills," the woman said. "I'm Angie, and this little one is Kelly. You probably don't know who I am …"

"You're the secretary over at the street department."

"Yes," Angie said smiling at her. "Um … my son Jacob, he was one of the kids who got sick."

"I hope he is doing ok."

"Yeah, he is great. He is ready to be outside running around with the rest of the boys his age."

"I am glad to hear it."

"We owe it all to you. If you hadn't saved him and the rest of the kids, well I don't want to think of the alternative," Angie said. "Anyway, um … Kelly here, she was with us in the room with Jacob when you healed him. And she wanted to give you something. Go on honey."

The shy little girl, with her mom right behind her, approached Regina and handed her a homemade card. Regina smiled at her as she took it. The girl had used crayons to draw a hospital bed with a stick figure boy in it, and a stick figure person standing next to the bed touching the boy's head.

Regina opened it up to where the girl had written "thank you" in uneven handwriting.

She smiled at the girl again. "Thank you very much," she said and was surprised when the girl moved forward and hugged her. She hugged the girl back.

"Thank you Mayor Mills," Angie said.

"Regina, just call me Regina."

"Thank you Regina."

Kelly motioned for her mom who bent down as Kelly whispered something in her ear.

"I don't know honey," Angie said.

"What?" Regina asked when she saw Angie look over at her.

"Jacob once broke his leg and he had a cast too. All his friends signed it and Kelly wanted to know if she could sign yours."

"You want to sign my cast?" she asked Kelly who nodded yes. She looked up at Angie, "Maybe at the nurses' station they have a marker or something. I don't mind."

"Ok," Angie said and she ran out and came back quickly with a black marker. Regina held her forearm out for Kelly to sign the cast. Her mom had to help her a little but soon Kelly's name graced her cast.

"Thank you again Regina," Angie said before she ushered Kelly out of the room. Regina looked down at the card again.

"Fan mail?"

She looked up to see Tink standing at the door.

"I don't know about that," Regina said.

"There are a lot of grateful families in this town," Tink said coming into the room. She saw the shoes by the chair and immediately dropped down to help Regina get them on.

"I don't even know what I did," Regina said. "I'm just happy everyone is ok."

Tink stood up, "are you ready to go home?"

"More than ready."

Henry reappeared in the room.

"What's say you and I collect up the flowers and cards and put them in the car before we get your mom in there," Tink said to him.

"Wait, are you my ride home?"

"Yep," Tink said proudly.

"And since when do you drive?"

"I passed my test yesterday," she beamed.


	11. Chapter 11

"Sorry about the bushes," Tink said as she held the door open for Regina.

"It's ok, I didn't really care for them anyway," she said, just glad they had made it to the house in one piece. No wonder Henry hadn't said who was picking them up. She had thought maybe it would be Emma since Henry wasn't very forthcoming. She hadn't spoke to Emma yet and felt she should at least thank the sheriff for bringing her back to the hospital.

She wished she could remember what had happened, but it was all still blank in her head. She took a seat on the couch and immediately got out her pain medication. Her ribs hurt more than anything else.

"Do you think you can get me something to drink?"

"Sure," Tink said. She disappeared and Henry came in carrying some of her flowers.

"What should I do with them?"

"I don't know, put them around wherever you think looks nice I guess," she said.

"Like anywhere?"

"Yes."

"Ok," he said, still unsure. His mother was usually meticulous about where things were placed. He had been observing her since woke in the hospital and all he could think was that she seemed more relaxed, or maybe just less annoyed at people. She had made sure she said thank you to the medical staff before leaving the hospital, and none of it was forced or sounded insincere.

He wasn't complaining, but it was – different. He put this vase down on the stand by the couch and went outside to retrieve the others.

Tink returned with water and Regina swallowed down two of the pills.

"Are you ok?"

"A little sore," she said. "But I guess that is to be expected for a little while at least."

"Well anything you need I am a phone call away. Plus Henry will be here."

"He mentioned that at the hospital. Emma is ok with that?"

"I guess. I mean those two had some friction over this whole thing so it may best to let them cool off a bit."

"Henry said he wasn't very nice to her."

"He gave her the cold shoulder, but he felt it was justified and frankly so did I."

"Why is that?"

"It's like you said she never considered the consequences of her actions and then those actions resulted in you and those kids getting sick, her first thought wasn't about you or them. When Henry called her out on it she still didn't seem to understand that this wasn't about her. I like Emma, don't get me wrong, but she didn't handle this as well as she should have for Henry's or your sake."

"All that is over now and the kids are fine, and I am fine. I think it would be best for everyone if we move on from it."

"Who are you and what have you done with Regina?"

"Funny,"

"No, seriously. You aren't one to let things go, what's changed?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "Punishing Emma for her actions, it's doesn't seem worth it for any reason. I am alive. My son loves me and that is all I need."

"Speaking of love," Tink said. "I'm sorry about what happened with Robin."

Regina gave her a sad smile, "I don't think a happy ending like that is what my destiny is. But it was nice for the short time that it was to believe again. I owe you for that. Thank you."

...

Henry watched as his mother slept on the couch. He was sure this was a scene he would never see again so he snapped a quick photo with his phone. She had gotten sleepy from the pills and decided to lie down right there. Tink had left so he was alone with her. He went upstairs to speak with his other mom.

"Hey kid, are you settled in over there?" Emma asked as she answered the phone.

"Yes," he said.

"How is Regina?"

"She's asleep on the couch. I think the exertion of coming home made her tired."

"Asleep on the couch, I bet that is a sight to see,"

"Yeah, I took a photo. I didn't think it would ever happen again."

"You better not let her find out you have it. How does she seem though? You said at the hospital that you thought she seemed a little different? Has she remembered anything yet?"

"No, she hasn't. She still seems different, but not in a bad way. She's just … different. I don't know how else to explain it."

"But she's ok?"

"Yes. Dr. Whale wanted her to stay in the hospital so he could run more tests but she didn't want to. I got the feeling something happened during her MRI but she didn't want to talk about it, at least not with me in the room."

"If it were anything serious he wouldn't have let her go."

"I know," he said. "I just want to her to ok."

"I know you do Henry. Believe it or not I want her to be ok too."

They talked about other things for a few minutes before Henry got off the phone. Emma was sitting at her desk at the station thinking about what a disaster the day before had been. She couldn't believe she had gotten ill. She chalked it up to being on the boat, even if something was nagging in her mind that it wasn't the sail that had made her get sick.

As hard as she tried she couldn't get the kiss with Regina out of her mind. The fact Regina didn't remember any of it infuriated her. At least if she had then Emma could get an explanation. She thought about how she was drawn to go to the stables for no other reason than it felt like it was the right direction to go in. Maybe Regina had used magic on her somehow. Unless Regina remembered thought she couldn't question her about it.

And the idea of Regina remembering made her even more nervous.

After all, if Regina remembered, she might know that Emma had kissed her back.

…

The next few days Regina didn't do much beyond lie around. Henry wouldn't let her do much either. She was restricted because of the broken ribs, arm and collarbone, but she had a hard time getting him to understand that it didn't mean she had to be in bed all the time. Besides, she told him, she needed to get used to doing things with one arm because her recovery time would take weeks.

He did draw the line at her going into the mayor's office, and she relented for the first week at first she said. Still she did manage to conduct some city business over the phone.

A strange –although it was becoming more common – occurrence happened her second day home. The doorbell rang and Henry answered. She heard him talking and she got up to check to find three kids on her doorstep with two adults – one was Angie.

"Sorry to bother you," she said. "This is Jacob. He wanted to thank you."

The boy stepped forward and instead of saying thank you he said, "Can I sign your cast?"

"Jacob!"  
Regina laughed, "It's ok. Henry can you get a marker or pen?"

He fetched one and Jacob and then the other two boys – one of which was a boy who had been sick named Lee – signed the cast. Lee's mother, Diane, thanked her profusely and handed Henry over some lasagna she had made knowing Regina was probably not feeling up to cooking a lot.

By her fifth day home she had the signatures of 18 kids on her cast. Henry seemed to take particular amusement in it and had even signed it.

That night Emma was supposed to pick up Henry and take him for the night. She had arranged it through Henry, having not spoken to Regina. When Emma arrived, she parked out on the road and sent Henry a text to let him know she was out there.

To Emma's surprise Regina came walking out with Henry. She hastily got out of the car. "You didn't need to escort him," she said quickly. "I mean it's fine you did. It's … you should be resting."

"I've been getting plenty of rest," she replied. "I wanted to come out and thank you."

"Thank me for what? If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have gotten sick."

"I wanted to thank you for finding me and bringing me back to the hospital. And for letting Henry stay with me."

"He's your son too," she said putting her hands in her back pocket and shuffling her feet a little. She was trying to avoid looking at Regina's face – at her lips.

"Still, I wanted you to know I appreciate it. I understand you found me trying to get home. How close did I get?"

"Um … you were … um fairly close. Um … just down there at the intersection," she pointed.

Regina's eyes narrowed a bit, but she looked down at the intersection and then back at Emma. "Was I conscious?"

"Um … no you collapsed on the sidewalk and I picked you and put you in the car and drove you to the hospital."

"I was never awake then? Didn't say anything?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Thank you."

"You're welcome. How are you feeling?"

"Good. Sore, but good," she said.

"That's good," Emma said shuffling her feet some more. "Well we better get going."

"Of course."

"Call me if you need anything," Henry said. He still wasn't sure about letting her be alone, but Regina had insisted that he mend things with his other mom.

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too."

Regina gave him a final hug and then walked away. Emma couldn't get in the car fast enough to leave. Regina got back into the house and closed the door before leaning up against it. She couldn't explain what she had felt out there, but as soon as Emma had said she had found her down at the intersection it was like a bell went off in her mind and she knew Emma was lying. She was also lying about her not being conscious and collapsing on the sidewalk.

But why would Emma lie about any of that? And why was she so nervous? She wouldn't even make eye contact with Regina. Normally Emma was the one person who didn't seem the least bit intimidated by her and would always look her directly in the eyes.

She went upstairs to lie down. Despite telling everyone she was fine, she couldn't help this lingering feeling that something was wrong.

The truth was she felt it was wrong from the moment she woke in the hospital. There was no magical cure for Skiver Fever, so how had she done it? She knew Whale was also trying to figure this out but while his curiosity was medical, hers was more personal. She had light magic now, but even light magic shouldn't have been able to cure it.

She thought back to hearing her parents' voices during the MRI. In the hospital, she had been willing to believe it was a dream, but the more she thought about it, the less certain she was. Surely if she had ever been that sick as a child she would remember it. And if she had Skiver Fever as a child, was she just one of the lucky few who actually survived it or was there another reason for it?

Part of her wanted to not worry about it, let it go and be thankful for the apparent miracle. The other part of her however knew there something there to uncover.

….

After Henry had gone to bed, Emma decided to head to her own. She hadn't slept well for days. She didn't have a good feeling about sleeping well tonight either. She had tried to avoid Hook over the last few days, but the man seemed to have a knack for popping up. Each time they kissed she felt wrong. The only time she was actually getting into it she stopped because she realized in her mind she was thinking about Regina, not Hook.

She needed this to stop.

She needed to get the brunette out of her mind once and for all. Whatever was happening had to be Regina's doing. She should have asked her a few direct questions while she was speaking to her. Regina couldn't lie to her. Emma always knew immediately when she did. It was like a bell going off in her mind and she knew when the other woman was lying.

Maybe she would wait a few days and then confront her.

If she was behind this, Emma would make sure whatever she was doing she reversed it.


	12. Chapter 12

"Seriously, they gave you a driver's license?" Regina said as she made her way down into her vault at the mausoleum. She had to rely on Tink to get there and she was sure a few more rides with her and she would end up back in the hospital.

"I get a little nervous when other people are in the car," Tink said. "I'm getting better don't you think?"

"Yes, you didn't take out any tombstones."

"What are we doing here anyway?"

"I don't really know," Regina said sighed. "There is something wrong about all of this – me getting sick and the healing. I … I think I may have been sick with Skiver Fever before when I was a child."

"I think if you had, you would have remembered that. It's not exactly something to forget."

Regina was standing in the midst of some chests – they were mostly filled with magical-related items, including her mother's collection. She knew in one of them, there were a series of notebooks in her mother's writing. They were mostly different spells or potions she had personally designed or had worked on, but they also included other notes or musings of her mother. She had only gone through them once, and not closely. She wasn't interested in her mother's work. She only kept them, she supposed at the time because she thought they may be useful, but the truth was she kept her mother's things to maintain a connection to her.

Growing up her mother never made her feel like she was good enough, and even at the height of her power she felt inadequate compared to her mother. Even her mother's death confession that she was enough wasn't enough to erase all of those feeling that had built up over the years.

"That chest," Regina said pointing. "Will you open it?"

"Tell me what this is really about and I will," Tink said crossing her arm. "You've come a long way Regina. I consider you a friend and I didn't think that would ever happen. The sentiment in this town about you is beginning to change. If you are thinking of getting caught back up in magic again, you know that path won't end well. Convince me this isn't a bad idea."

"I don't know that I can,"

"Then don't ask me to help." She turned and began to walk out.

"Wait. Please Tink, I don't have anyone else who can help me. Yes the sentiment may be changing out me but what that is, is gratitude. It's not like they want to be friends with me. I am not looking to do anything bad, I promise. I need to figure this out though."

"What, what are you trying to figure out? You got to give me something here."

Regina took a seat on one of the other chests and Tink followed suit. She proceeded to tell Tink about hearing her parents talk about her being sick. She then told her about her suspicions that Emma had lied to her.

"You know when you took me to meet the man who could be my second chance – the man with the tattoo? It feels like that – like I am standing at the crossroads of destiny."

"Do you think you can choose the right path this time?"

"I hope so."

…

Emma pulled up to Regina's to let Henry out. They had spent the day with each other and while it was tense at times, Emma was overall happy that it looked like they could put this behind them.

"Do you want to come in?" Henry asked.

"No," Emma said.

"Ok," he said. "I will call you tomorrow."

Emma sat there watching him go inside but still didn't pull away. She thought about Henry and Regina in there – Regina. How had it gotten to this? How did a kiss change everything?

Regina had been feverish, shaking in her arm, she was in so much pain that Emma was scared in that moment – scared Regina was actually going to die. She had fished her cell phone out of her pocket and tried to dial her unlock code so she could get an ambulance. Then she felt Regina pull her down. Their lips met and Emma felt it all in that second – love that reached into her soul.

And it was there still. She could feel like you feel the cold seep into you on a winter's day. Like the way water coats your body as you swim in the ocean. It was inside of her. And if it was inside her, was it inside of Regina?

She stared the house for another few minutes before pulling out her phone.

"I need to talk to you," she said as soon as the call picked up. A moment later she was driving away.

…

Henry walked in to find Regina sitting on the couch, about a dozen small books were laid out on the coffee table and she was intently studying one of them.

"What's all this?" he asked picking up one of them.

"Sit down," Regina said. She waited until he was seated. "I don't want to keep secrets from you. These notebooks belonged to my mother. I was going through them hoping I might find an answer to why this happened with the Skiver Fever."

"We know why it happened. Emma she brought Marian back and Marian was carrying the virus."

"Yes, but that explains how the children got sick, it doesn't explain why I did. I was hoping my mom might have written something down, anything down that might help me understand why. You see, I think … I think that I had Skiver Fever as a child and my mom did something to help me. If she did, it most certainly was related to magic in someway. I hoped there would be some note, something she had written down which might give me a clue as to what she might have done."

"What does it matter? You are ok, the kids are ok; why does it matter if your mom did something?"

"I don't know that it does matter to anyone but me. I would like to know once and for all whether my mother loved me because I was her daughter, or loved me because she saw in me someone that could make her own dreams come true. I don't even know that this will give me any answers to that question. If this bothers you though, me doing this, I won't do it. I won't risk anything coming between us again."

Henry's eyes went to the notebooks and then back to his mother.

"I trust you," he said.

She pulled him in for a hug.

"Thank you."

…

Regina placed another of the notebooks down. Another book of her mother's notations about magic. There was nothing in the ones she looked at to indicate her mother had written anything about her so far. She reached over and opened up the bottle with the pain medication and took a couple of them. Her head had started to ache, and while that wasn't the purpose for why she had the medication, she took them anyway. She was supposed to go in to the hospital for a check up in another two days.

She rubbed her eyes and stood up to go to bed. She had been up way too long looking at the notebooks. She went upstairs to her room and despite the difficulties of having one fully functioning arm she managed to get changed and into bed.

It took her a while to get to sleep – she preferred to sleep on her side but the injuries made that impossible.

_She ran into the stable, a smile on her face, intent on seeing Daniel. She opened the door as he was brushing down one of the horses. "Daniel," she said running into his arms and kissing him._

_"Hey beautiful," he said, holding her in his arms._

_She reached up and touched his face. She felt like it had been forever since she saw him, touched him._

_"I love you," she said._

_"I love you too," he said. "We don't have much time though."_

_"Time? We have all day. My mom won't be back until late."_

_"No, we don't."_

_"I don't understand," she said stepping back. "We had the whole day planned out."_

_"Regina," he said placing a hand on each of her upper arms. "Do you remember what happened here?"_

_Regina looked away from him. She looked down past Daniel, and for a moment she saw a flash of him on the ground, her crying over his dead body. Then it was over._

_She stepped farther back from him this time._

_"No," she said. "No. You're right here. You're here with me. We're going to be together."_

_"I wish that were so," he said. "Our time together was too short. We never got the chance to be what we could have been. But that doesn't mean you will be alone. I promise you, you will find love again."_

_"I don't want to find love again," she said. "I want to be with you, only you."_

_She kissed him, held on to him, but then she stopped. There was something different. This isn't what it felt like it before. She looked at him._

_"What you are feeling is not me," he said. "It's your love, which now belongs to another."_

Regina woke feeling out of sorts. The dream was fresh in her mind. It felt real. It felt like Daniel had been there with her. But the last time she kissed him in the dream; it felt different than any other time she had kissed him. Yet there was a familiarity in it. She let her fingers lightly brush her lips.


	13. Chapter 13

Emma woke after another shitty night of sleep. She was going to have to start taking sleeping pills if this kept up. When she had gone to bed she had known that sleeping was probably not going to happen – not after her talk with Hook.

It didn't go well, but what she expecting.

She simply asked Hook for some time – a break, as cliché as that sounded.

"Swan," Hook said. "You've just been a little torn up over this whole thing, but we have something good started here."

"We've barely started anything." Emma said.

"Now you know that isn't true," he smiled, leaning in and kissing her. As soon as he did, Emma felt ill and stepped back.

"Killian," she said. "I am not ready for this."

"I don't get it," he said. "You finally accepted that we can be something special and then all of a sudden you need time. Why the sudden change?"

"It's happening to fast is all. I need time to take a step back from this, from you. This isn't a goodbye forever or anything. It's something I need to do though."

It sounded lame even to her, but Hook stormed out of her place without a word.

She just couldn't try and continue a relationship with him while she was dealing with this stuff with Regina. How to deal with Regina was another matter all together. She decided she would go see her today, see what her lie detector could pick up on what Regina was hiding. This magical cure, everyone suddenly warming up to the idea of Regina – it was all too neat and tidy, which made her suspicious.

…

"What do you think it meant?" Tink asked her. They were sitting at the dining table. Tink had come to check on her as she did every morning and noticed Regina was being silent. She reminded Regina that she was all in for helping her as long as Regina remained truthful with her. While she was reluctant to say it, she ended up telling Tink about the dream.

"I don't know. Probably nothing. It was just a dream. With all that has happened lately I am surprised I am not having nightmares frankly.

"I think it's a sign. These things don't just happen."

"Dreams happen all the time," Regina said. "And regardless, Daniel was my one and only true love. I think fate has proven that. It's just it felt real, being there with him. It was like I was standing there with him and every fiber of my being called out to him and it felt like it had when he was still alive until we kissed that last night. I don't even know how to describe it."

"You don't have to, he told you what it was," Tink said.

"Oh, yes, my love which apparently belongs to someone else already. You know that was the problem with my relationship, as brief as it was with Robin. I don't want anyone telling me who to be with. Do you know what I've always wanted? My freedom. I wanted it growing up when my mother tried to rule my every move and even when I thought I had it, it turns out I was nothing more than some tool for Rumple to use and manipulate into doing his bidding so he could find his son. Why isn't it ok for me to be able to choose what I want?"

"What do you want?"

"I don't know. Right now I would settle for bones that weren't broken."

The doorbell rang and Tink got up to answer it. She came back in with Emma.

"Em … Sheriff Swan," Regina said. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. I didn't walk Henry to the door last night so I didn't get the chance to see you and ask how you were doing. I had a little time before work this morning so I thought I would stop over."

"Please sit," Regina said.

"I will leave you two alone," Tink said. "I will be here tomorrow to take you to your doctor's appointment with Dr. Frankenstein."

"You don't even know who Dr. Frankenstein is," Regina pointed out.

"Call him what you like, I still don't like him, but I will take you to the hospital regardlenss."

"Ok, thanks."

"Doctor's appointment, is everything ok?" Emma asked.

"Yes. Dr. Whale is merely insisting that I come in each week for a check up," Regina said. "Tink clearly isn't a fan of his."

"Nor am I," Emma said. "He was a bit of an ass when you were in the hospital."

"He had a lot to deal with," Regina said. "I am sure he will be fine tomorrow. I am glad you stopped by actually. I had a couple of questions."

"Questions?"

"Yes. I um … do you want to go into the living room, it's a little more comfortable."

"Sure."

Regina led the way and upon entering Emma noticed the notebooks.

"What's all this?"

Regina sat on the couch and Emma took the chair. "These are my mothers. Long story short, I think there is something off about this whole Skiver Fever thing."

"Off in what way?"

"There is no magical cure."

"I think the kids you healed would argue otherwise."

"I have no idea how I did it though. I still don't remember any of it, and … this is going to sound crazy, but when I was in the hospital undergoing some tests, I think I did remember something from the past – something concerning my parents."

She went on to tell Emma of what she believed to be a memory and why she was looking through her mom's things.

"If you had it as a child, are you thinking your mom healed you through magic?"

"That is the only thing that makes sense to me. Maybe she did and I was a kid so I didn't remember it, but when I got sick maybe it triggered something inside of me and I was able to do what she did to heal the kids."

"But you haven't found anything to support that idea?"

"No. None of this is why I am glad you came over though. I need to ask you something. Did you really find me on the sidewalk near here?"

Emma looked away, and then back. "No."

"Where did you find me?"

"Um … the stables."

Regina sat back. The stables. Her dream from the night before came back to her. Maybe that is why she had the dream – her mind's way of trying to remind her that she had been in the stables recently.

"Why did you lie?" Regina asked.

Emma shrugged, "I know the stables probably aren't a place that bring up a lot of good memories, so I figured I had done enough harm to you for a while that telling you that seemed pointless."

"How did you find me there?"

"Caller into the station; reported some one suspicious in the area."

The bell went off in Regina's head again. Emma was lying.

"And was I awake at all?"

"I heard you cry out in pain, I went in and found you. You were pretty out of it. I took you to my car and took you to the hospital. You never said anything."

Regina didn't sense that Emma was lying, but she got the feeling Emma was holding something back.

"You really don't know what is going on with this, do you?" Emma asked.

"No," Regina. "I wish I did."

Nothing. Emma wasn't getting any sense that Regina was lying to her.

"I should get into work," Emma said, standing. "Um … if you need any help with this, well, call me if you need anything."

"I will. Thank you sheriff."

"It's Emma."

"Emma."

…

Regina got up on the bed and laid down. She had arrived at the hospital for her check up, expecting a simple Q&A but found Dr. Whale had scheduled off time to run another series of tests. If she hadn't been so curious about how she was healed, she wouldn't have agreed to it. She didn't believe there was a scientific reason for it; she believed it was magic. Still she wasn't going to dismiss the idea that there was a logical explanation for it either, which is why she agreed.

She hadn't gotten anywhere in her own search so far. She thought about Emma's offer to help from the day before, but she honestly didn't know how she could help. It felt good though that she had offered. Maybe there was a chance there that they could stop their antagonistic relationship – at least for Henry.

She worried that her and Emma constantly being at odds was making Henry feel like he had to choose sides. She didn't want that for him. She had grown up with parents who rarely agreed on matters and she didn't want that for Henry.

Dr. Whale, Victor as he told her to call him, was also being unusually nice to her given their history so here she was getting ready to undergo another MRI. The nurse, Lila, came in to strap her to the table again. Regina didn't like being restrained like that, but she supposed after what happened last time it was necessary. She put the earplugs in, closed her eyes and felt them move the bed into place.

She sensed the machine turn on.

They had given her a mild sedative this time and she felt it working inside her as she began to drift off.

_"How is she?" she heard her mother ask._

_"She's has started to have the hallucinations," her father said. "Where have you been? Who is this person you have brought with you?"_

_She felt a hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes to see her mother looking down at her. "Leave us."_

_"I will not," Henry said._

_Cora turned from her. "If you want her to live, then leave us. You can't be here for this."_

_There was hesitation and then her father leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I will be nearby," he said softly. "Everything is going to be ok."_

_She didn't know if he left or not. She moved around in bed, trying to get comfortable and ended up lying on her side. She saw a figure in a hooded cloak standing next to her mother, and as he walked over to her she became afraid._

_She tried to move off the opposite side of the bed to escape, but her mother was quicker, getting on the bed and effectively holding her in her arms. The figure reached out and touched her forehead and she struggled in her mom's arms._

_"Calm down Regina. He is here to help," Cora said._

_She didn't want to calm down though. This person scared her. When he touched her, she felt like he was stripping her soul bare._

_"Can you save her?" Cora asked him after a moment._

_"There is no way for me or you to cure her with magic," he said. "That would take powerful light magic. But there may be another way."_

_"What way would that be?"_

_"A curse," he laughed, and the sound made Regina want to run and hide._

_"How does a curse help?"_

_"It's simple actually. You allow me to curse your daughter – take away her destiny and replace it with another," he said. "It will give her a slight nudge onto another path."_

_She felt a slight shiver run through her mother's body into hers. She wanted to tell her mother to make this person go away. She wanted the pain to be over, but this person scared her – and she would rather face death._

_"By taking away her destiny, you mean her destiny is to die here from this disease?"_

_"Destinies aren't that simple because once changes are made – even small changes – it can alter them. What I can tell you is that your daughter may very well die from this, but there is another possibility. She could be one of the lucky children who do not die. If that happens, she will grow up. She will meet her true love and when that happens she will leave you. She go with this love and she will build a life, a very simple life, but one where she is happy. She will never do anything remarkable. She will be the kind of nice, simple country girl that you dismiss every day going to the market. What I offer you is a chance to change that, to make her into what you could never achieve – royalty, power and the ability to shake the world from its very foundations. It is your decision."_

_Regina wanted to tell her mother no. Scream at her. She struggled again in her arms trying to free herself, to run to her father and maybe he would protect her. Please, she pleaded with her mother in her own mind._

_"Let's do this," Cora said._

_She saw the figure drop his hood and come closer._


	14. Chapter 14

When Regina opened her eyes she was surprised to find she was in a hospital bed. It took a moment to remember she had come to the hospital for a check up.

"How are you?" Emma asked from where she was standing near the window.

"Ok, I guess. Did something happen?"

"You had a minor seizure while undergoing the MRI. Dr. Whale said you will be fine," she said. "They called me because of Henry."

"Oh, of course. Where is he?"

"He and Tink just went for a walk. Are you sure you are ok?"

"I think so," Regina said, trying to reach for the remote that would adjust the bed upwards. It was on the side of her broken arm and Emma, seeing her struggle, walked over and grabbed it.

"Tell me when," she said hitting the button so the top of the bed would rise up.

"That's good," Regina said when she was in a more seat position. "Thank you."

Emma took a seat next to the bed. "You're going to have to stop ending up in the hospital. You are beginning to worry Henry. Plus I think he has been flirting with one of the nurses, and that's a conversation I would just as assume you have with him, not me," she smiled. But she noticed Regina didn't smile. Instead she had a far-off look on her face.

"Do you want me to get the doctor or something?"

"No," Regina said, snapping back to reality. "Actually, yes. I'd like to go home."

"I'm not sure that is a good idea. It was a minor seizure, but still maybe you should stay overnight to be sure."

"I want to go home," she said looking off toward the window.

Emma could tell something was wrong, but she got up anyway to track down Whale.

…

"I recommend you stay overnight," Whale said.

"I appreciate the concern," she said. "But I prefer to be at home. I will return next week as we agreed for a check up. Perhaps the next MRI will go better."

"Next one, you aren't having a next one," Emma said before she realized people were looking for her. Regina gave her a curious look. "I'm just saying that I am sure Dr. Whale has more than enough scans of your brain and there is no reason to risk anything else happening by undergoing another of them. Have these tests even made a difference?"

She directed the last question directly to Whale. "I believe they will," he said.

"But you don't know for sure, which is why there is no reason to risk it," Emma said.

"We can discuss how we proceed next week," Whale said, dismissing Emma entirely and facing Regina. "I will have the nurse process your discharge."

Emma could scarcely believe Regina would even consider another MRI, after now having two incidents – then it hit her, Regina had said when she was having the MRI done she thought she heard her parents talking about her being sick. Now she had undergone another MRI and woken up with a quiet, thoughtfulness about her. Had it happened again? Did she remember something?

"Tink, why don't you head out, I will take Henry and Regina home," Emma said.

Tink looked from her to Regina. "Go ahead," Regina said. "We can talk tomorrow."

"Ok," Tink said. "Feel better. Call me if you need something."

She gave Henry a little hug and left.

"If nothing else, you have saved me from having a heart attack from her driving," Regina said.

"That bad?"

"As sheriff, you should definitely give her a ticket, maybe that will motivate her to improve."

"I will give it some thought."

"Thank you for the offer of a ride home," Regina said.

"You're welcome," Emma said turning to Henry. "What do you say kid, pizza for dinner?"

"Yeah!"

Emma turned back to Regina smiling, "I'd give you a vote on dinner, but you would just be outvoted in favor of pizza."

"Does that mean you are staying for dinner?"

"Yes," Emma said. "If you aren't going to stay here, someone should be at least look out for you for a little bit tonight."

…

They ate dinner, and Henry helped Emma clean up, while Regina went upstairs to lie down. Emma then spent some time with Henry, watching a movie before it was time for him to go to bed. She went upstairs with him and made sure he got tucked in – telling him to deal with the embarrassment of it. She closed his door and stood there staring at the closed door at the end of the hall. It was Regina's room. She hadn't gotten the chance to talk to the other woman privately like she hoped to. All through dinner, she could tell Regina's mind was preoccupied with other matters.

She walked to the door and listened. No sound. She knocked lightly, then again when she heard nothing. She opened the door as quietly as possible. Regina was lying on her back in bed, her eyes closed. It looked like she must have kicked some of her blankets off in her sleep. Emma went in and re-adjusted them for her. She stared at Regina a moment, hoping the other woman would sleep peacefully. She allowed herself to lightly touch the top of Regina's hand before leaving.

…

When Regina got up the next morning, she thought about staying in bed. It seemed like an easier choice than getting up. She knew if she stayed there she would do nothing but think and think about what had happened – what she had seen when was in the MRI. It was all she could think about so she supposed it didn't matter where she thought about it.

She finally got up, dressed and went downstairs. As she got to the bottom she heard voices in the kitchen. She got to the door to see Emma and Henry at the table. "Good morning," she said cautiously.

"How are you feeling?" Emma asked.

"Did you spend the night here?"

"Yeah, on the couch. I got up early and went home to change. But I brought breakfast."

"Frozen waffles," Regina said eyeing Henry's plate.

"Hey don't knock it," Emma said.

"Sit down mom." Henry said. She took a seat beside him, as Emma put two waffles in the toaster.

"You didn't answer the question, how are you feeling?"

"I'm ok," she said. Emma scrutinized her trying to figure out if that was the full truth. She decided even if it wasn't the case Regina wasn't likely to worry Henry needlessly. Once the waffles were done, she put them on a plate for Regina and passed her syrup. Regina studied them a moment, turned the plate once and then finally took a bite. "Homemade is better, but these are passable," she conceded.

"See, I'm not a bad cook."

"This doesn't make you a cook."

"She actually cooks pretty good," Henry said. "When we were in New York, she'd even make actual eggs."

"The kid has spoken," Emma said.

"Traitor," Regina said playfully pushing her son, which made him and Emma smile at the brunette.

"You are still a better cook," Henry said.

"Hey, traitor," Emma said tossing a dish towel at him. "Now get ready to go to school."

"Are you taking me?"

"Yep."

Henry left to go upstairs.

"Thanks," Regina said.

"No problem," Emma said. "I have to get to work anyway so dropping him off is no big deal. Um … I was thinking I could pop back around at lunch to check on you."

"That's not necessary," Regina said.

"I think it is," she said. "We need to talk. I know something happened in that hospital yesterday, and I would like to know what it is. I would like you to tell me what has you all I don't … upset."

"You want me to tell you what happened?" Regina said. "Fine. I will, but you have to do me the courtesy of telling me the truth of what really happened that night you found me at the stables."


	15. Chapter 15

Regina wasn't sure why she was nervous for Emma to show up at lunch time. It wasn't like she was the one who had lied. Emma knew something more about what had happened at the stables. She was sure of it.

Yet, she was the one here nervously pacing, waiting for the sheriff to get there.

Emma had called her already to let her know she was running late.

She had spent most of her morning going back through her mother's journals to see if she had written anything in connection with the word – destiny.

She had only gotten through a couple. She didn't want to hurry and accidentally miss something. She knew there was someone she could ask, but she wasn't ready for that and didn't know if she ever would be.

Emma arrived a few minutes later and Regina let her in.

"Are you ready to tell me the truth?"

"Why do you think I am lying about something?" Emma asked.

"Because you have to be leaving something out."

Emma sighed, "why don't you tell me what happened in the hospital?"

"Emma …"

"Just tell me, ok. I am concerned about you. You weren't yourself after and I … I would like for you to tell me what happened in there."

Regina felt touched by the concern in Emma's voice, although she wasn't going to give up on finding out what happened at the stables.

"I had another, I don't know memory I guess. It was more intense than the last time. It wasn't just me hearing voices; I saw it like I was there, like I was experiencing it."

She proceeded to tell her all that she had experienced.

By the end Emma was pacing.

"Rumpelstiltskin," Emma said. "He was involved in this?"

"If what I saw is real, yes."

"But you believe it to be real?"

Regina nodded, unsure she could say it out loud.

"We have to go talk to him then," Emma said.

"I don't think that is the best course of action."

"Why not? If he made some sort of deal with Cora to do … to do whatever this is then we need to find out."

"We don't know that he or my mother did anything," Regina said. "All I know is I have had two I don't know episodes while undergoing an MRI …"

"Which is why you were all gung ho to go back to the hospital for more tests next week," Emma finished for her. "You can't honestly think that is a good idea. You had a seizure. You can't risk yourself like that for what, the off-chance it will happen again? If you think I am going to let you do that, you are crazy."

"I'm sorry, let me," Regina said. "You don't have any say in the matter."

"The hell I don't. I am not going to let you do this. Think for a moment, if something happened to you where does that leave Henry?"

"With you, which is apparently what you prefer anyway. You don't have to pretend like you give a damn about me or what happens to me because Henry is upset with you right now. He will … he is getting over it. He was scared is all, and he shouldn't have treated you like he did, but he didn't know how else to act. You two will be fine. Your relationship will be fine therefore you can drop the act that you care about me."

"But I do care," Emma said, quickly with a look of surprise on her face like she was unsure she had said it out loud.

Even Regina was taken aback by the way she said it. It wasn't in a forceful tone, or loud, it was a simple, declarative statement that exuded more emotion than if she had yelled it.

The two women stood there looking at each other, neither seeming to be willing to be the first to break the silence.

"I need to know if what I saw is true," Regina said finally. "I need to know if my mother bargained away the future I was supposed to have. You heard what I said; he said my destiny would have been a simple one. I was going to meet my true love and leave my mother behind. That is what Daniel and I had planned out. What if Rumple did something to me and that is why things went the way they did? What if all of this, me becoming the Evil Queen, my feud with your mother, the curse, you growing up without your family, what if it all could have been avoided? That is why I need to do this."

"Then what is wrong with going to talk with Rumple? Surely, that is an easier option than risking your life."

"And if he did do this, do you really expect him to just come out and say it? He could have mentioned it at any time in all these years, hell, you would think he would have enjoyed taunting me with that information," Regina said. "No, I don't want to speak to him, especially if I don't have proof. You still don't get it; he is the most dangerous person alive."

"You are afraid of him?" Emma asked, sure that Regina had not been afraid of him before. Just how much had this memory affect her, she wondered.

"You should be afraid of him too," Regina said. "You have no idea what he is capable of."

"He's changed. Belle helped him change. They are married now. If anyone can get him to tell you the truth it's Belle."

"No," Regina said.

"Damn you're stubborn," Emma said.

"No more so than you," Regina responded. "Now, I've told you what happened; I think it's time for you to come clean with me. What happened in those stables? I know you lied when you said someone called into the station to report a suspicious person."

"I did lie about that, but how did you know that?"

"I don't know. I just knew as soon as you said that it was a lie. It was like a little alarm went off in my head and I just knew."

Emma was surprised by the answer. Regina had described what it was like when she instinctively knew people were lying.

"Has that ever happened to you before?"

"No."

Emma sat back down. "No one called the station that night. I was out in my car and this is going to sound weird, but I felt like I needed to go in the direction of the stables. I swear I didn't know you were there or that I would find you there. It was an overwhelming feeling that I needed to get there. When I arrived I got out of my car and I heard you crying out. I thought I heard you say something like 'please don't go' or 'please don't leave,' but when I actually got into the stable there was no one else there but you."

"Could someone had been there and you didn't know?"

"It's possible. I wasn't really paying that much attention to the place because you were in so much pain."

"But why did you lie?"

Emma shrugged. "I can't explain why I went there and it wasn't something I really wanted to think about."

Silence.

"Look, if you are determined to explore these memories," Emma said. "I will help if I can. I will even go speak to Rumple alone if you want so you don't have to, but can you at least promise you won't undergo another MRI."

Regina exhaled, "I will promise to think about it, but that is all I can offer at the moment. Now if you will excuse me, it's time for me to take my medication and it tends to make me sleepy so if you can show yourself out."

"Yeah, sure," Emma said.

She left the mansion and got into her car. She sat there a moment before slamming her palms onto the steering wheel. When Regina was telling the story of what she had seen it was like Emma could feel the fear and uncertainty rolling off of her in waves. Regina was scared, not just of Rumple, but of what may have been done to her. And Cora, how could she do that to her own daughter.

But Regina was dying, could have died – was a curse a better option than death?

As soon as Regina had said the word curse, Emma felt a shiver that went beyond chilling her bones – it chilled her very soul. When Regina had kissed her and the magic was released – it must have broken the curse Regina was under. But what did that mean exactly?

She could have told Regina the truth – told her about the kiss. She didn't know how she felt about it though – Regina as her true love? The two women barely tolerated each other most days. The idea that they could be destined for each other – she paused in her thinking. Destined? But what did that mean if Rumple had somehow managed to change Regina's destiny?

All of it was giving her a headache.

Finally, she pulled away, determined to find some aspirin.

…

As soon as Emma left, Regina reached for her pain medication. She had a headache. She opened the bottle, and cursed silently. She was almost out. She had probably been taking too many but she hadn't found them to be that effective.

To get more though would mean contacting Dr. Whale.

This didn't fall under Emma's admonishment about the hospital. She wasn't calling to set up an appointment, just to get another prescription. She reached for the phone and called the hospital. She was put on hold and expected to be patched into Whale's secretary, so she was surprised when he answered.

"Regina, how are you feeling today?"

"I'm ok," she said, still not used to Whale being so casual with her. "I was wondering if I could get another prescription for the pain medication."

"Have you used the pills already?"

"Not all of them, but I am about out. Maybe you could prescribe something a little more powerful because whatever this stuff is, it makes me lethargic, but doesn't do a whole lot to ease the pain, at least not for long."

"Can you come in this afternoon and we can talk about it?"

Regina paused, "Yes I can."

"Good, I will see you this afternoon. Just get here when you can and I will make sure the nurses know to get me."

…

Whale couldn't believe his luck in getting Regina to come back to the hospital. Ever since reviewing the latest MRI scans he had been trying to figure out a way to get her to agree to more. The latest scans showed an increase in brain function before her seizure. It spiked and then went back down again.

Still it was no where near the levels of the scan he took when she in the grips of the fever and was hallucinating.

He needed to see a brain under those conditions again.

He walked over to the wall safe he kept behind a framed map of the world. He worked the combination lock and opened it, reaching inside and taking out the metal box inside before returning to his seat behind his desk. He opened up the box – inside there were five vials. Each contained the same thing – the isolated virus of the Skiver Fever. Another box in the safe contained the antidote. No one knew why Regina had gotten sick – so why would anyone question if she got sick again?


	16. Chapter 16

Regina knew she shouldn't be driving to the hospital with her broken arm and collarbone, but she didn't want anyone to know she was going. She didn't have many options to call as it was – Tink, if she could handle another ride with her, or Emma.

She was glad Emma had told her that she had been found in the stable. It made an odd bit of sense to her. She had been dying and hallucinating, so the idea she would go to the stable – the place she felt closest to Daniel made sense.

Her mind had been on him more and more since she had that memory. She was more sure now that it was a memory. Her mother had made a deal with the Dark One to save her life, but in doing so gave away her destiny. Perhaps her destiny had been to marry Daniel, to live a normal, simple life. But this curse whatever its exact nature, maybe it took that away from her.

When she was with Daniel she had dreamed of being with him forever. Then fate put Snow White in her path and everything changed. But the idea of being with Daniel, loving him, raising a family with him, even if it were a simple, unremarkable life was a better alternative than the life she had lived.

The only bright spot in her life was Henry.

She had left Henry a note for when he got home letting him know she went to the hospital to speak to Dr. Whale. As much as she didn't want people knowing where she was going, she wasn't going to lie to her son – not anymore.

She was a street from the hospital when she looked in her rear view mirror and shook her head. A sheriff's cruiser was following her.

She wasn't being pulled over so she kept going, making it to the hospital and pulling into a spot. Emma pulled in beside her and got out of the car at the same time as Regina.

"Are you following me?"

"Yes," Emma said. "Please tell me you aren't here to get another MRI done."

"I am here because I am almost out of pain medication, medication that isn't even putting a dent in the pain and Dr. Whale told me to come in to talk to him about upping the dosage. Why are you here?"

"To make sure you weren't doing anything stupid."

"I appreciate your trust in me."

Emma shrugged, "I guess you won't mind if I accompany you to your doctor's appointment then."

"Miss Swan …"

"I think Henry would feel better knowing you weren't alone and either way I will need to stay here in order to follow you home again since you probably shouldn't be driving."

"If you must," Regina said walking to the door with Emma following behind her. Emma gave a little smile behind her back. She knew Regina would pull something like this the moment she was hesitant to promise she wouldn't. She knew Regina better than anyone else, of that she was sure.

Emma rushed ahead and pulled the door open to hold it for Regina.

"Thank you," Regina said to her.

…

Dr. Whale was not pleased when Emma walked in with Regina. It means he would have to forgo his plans. He asked a series of questions about her level of pain and then reviewed her current scripts. He left the room to get her something new to try from the pharmacy.

"Have you been taking a lot of those pain pills?" Emma asked.

"They haven't been doing much good."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I just did. Did you miss the conversation with Dr. Whale?"

"No I meant you could have said something before to … to me, or you know Tink."

"Oh …um," Regina said. "I don't know. I just … you um said earlier that you care … I guess it's going to take a little time for me to get used to the idea that there might be people out there who care."

"Take all the time you need," Emma smiled.

When Whale returned the two women were casually talking.  
"I'm sorry it took so long," he said. "The pharmacy is backed up, but I put an order in for you and I will have sent over my messenger as soon as it is filled. It's a higher dosage of Vicodin, which should be all you need for the pain. Make sure you read all the warnings on the slip that will come with it. It's not as powerful as an oxycodone but it will suffice. If you have any problems you call me."

"Of course. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

"It's no problem. I was wondering if I could speak to you a moment – privately, if you don't mind."

Regina looked at Emma and nodded. "I will be right outside," she said.

Emma was pacing outside the door waiting. While she knew it hadn't been that long she was becoming anxious and about ready to interrupt when Regina finally came out. They walked out to the cars. "What was that all about?" Emma asked.

"It was … he sort of asked me out."

"He did what?"

"He said it's not really appropriate right now since he is still treating me, but when I got better he wanted to know if I would like to have dinner with him."

"Well that isn't going to happen."

Regina stopped and looked at her, "why not?"

"You can't go out with him."

"Again, I ask why not?"

"Come on, he's Victor Frankenstein. He tries to reanimate dead people."

"That was who he was," Regina said. "He knows that there are people who still regard him in that fashion since you broke the curse. He's probably one of the few people in this town who can understand wanting people to see you differently."

"Is that what he said to you, that he sees you differently? Because maybe you are forgetting he tried to sick a mob on you when the curse broke."

"Which he apologized for," Regina said.

"You have got to be kidding me. You aren't going out with him."

"That isn't really your decision to make."

"Yeah, but … fine, date Frankenstein, see if I care," Emma said getting into her cruiser and leaving, not bothering to wait on Regina to follow her home. Regina just stood there trying to figure out why Emma reacted that way.

…

Whale knew he needed a new plan the moment Emma walked into his office with Regina. He did go to the pharmacy, but only to consult with pharmacist. He would have the Vicodin made up for Regina and include small amounts of the Skiver virus in each one. She would poison herself slowly and as he made friends with her, no one would suspect him of anything but being a concerned friend and doctor.

…

Emma stormed back into the station going into her office and closing the door. How dare she, she thought for the millionth time since leaving the hospital. How dare she even think of accepting Whale's offer? Those disliked each other. It was inconceivable that Regina would actually consider going out with him. And him, how dare he try to sell her some redemption story. He is lucky that she didn't go right back in there and deck him. She tried to calm down, but the audacity of him doing that. She was right there outside the door and he decides that is the moment to ask her Regina out.

She stopped. Her Regina. Where did that thought keep coming from?


	17. Chapter 17

Regina got home still trying to understand Emma's reaction to Whale asking her out. She hadn't actually accepted a dinner invite from him. While was his patient it wouldn't be proper to do so, and even afterward, well while she appreciated that he too had a past to overcome Emma's strong reaction to it made no sense. She couldn't help but think that Emma's outburst was almost like jealousy, but that was a ridiculous notion.

"How did it go at the hospital?" Henry asked her.

"Good. Dr. Whale is going to have some new pain medication sent over later. Hopefully it helps better than the last batch. Emma was there."

"She was?"

"Yes. Apparently the sheriff doesn't trust me to handle my medical condition on my own."

"She's probably trying to make up for how she was when you were in the hospital."

"Henry. Your mom's job isn't to watch over me, even if I was in the hospital. Her job was to keep you safe, which she did by keeping you away from that place. You have to stop trying to find fault in her actions."

"I know but you weren't there. You are both my moms and when something happens to one of you, the other should be concerned. She never even checked on you that first day, she was only concerned that she was the one who caused this."

"I can't say how I would have reacted if our positions were reversed." Regina said. "And Emma and I do seem to be getting along better since I woke up in the hospital oddly enough. Maybe this little scare was the push we needed to get moving in the right direction, and that direction is one where we can both be in your life on amicable terms. Isn't that what you want?"

"Yes. I want us to be family."

"And we are, in our own weird way. Now let's figure out what your one-armed mom can make for dinner." She put her good arm around him and led him to the kitchen.

She was actually saved from the effort when Tink came over and the three of them (with Tink driving) went to Granny's to eat. They were done with their meal and Henry was at another table talking with another boy from school, which left Tink and Regina to talk.

"He asked you out?"

"Yes. He sat down on his couch beside me and started talking about how since the curse lifted and people knew he was Dr. Frankenstein that he has to deal with certain prejudices. He said it has given him insight into what it must be like for me. He said he would like to talk more about it in private setting and then he just asked me to go dinner with him. I paused and he pointed out that it couldn't happen right now since he is still treating me, but once that was complete he would like it if we could get together. Until then he said he hopes in addition to being doctor-patient we could maybe start to become friends."

Regina looked down at her coffee cup, where she had been unconsciously stirring it for the last couple of minutes. She took the spoon out and took a drink while Tink processed this new information.

"You know I have been giving this whole fairy dust, soul mate thing some thought along with this whole curse thing," Tink said. Regina had kept her in the loop as promised. "And I've come to a conclusion. Now this may sound a little far-fetched."

"My entire life is far-fetched," Regina joked. "All of our lives are far-fetched. Could you imagine what this would like if it was a TV show? The writers wouldn't be able to keep it all straight."

Not for the first time since Regina woke in the hospital, Tink considered how the other woman seemed to be changing. Like the remark she just made was not something she would expect of Regina. If anything Regina seemed more patient, less prone to anger, and yes more relaxed than before.

"I haven't watched much TV since being here. It's sort of confusing and way too much to choose from. I do enjoy the cartoons though," Tink replied. "Anyway, let's say that Rumple put a curse on you that change your destiny and that was done on you as a kid so from that moment on you were on a different path than the one you were originally supposed to be on. Then you and I meet and I do the whole soul ate fair dust routine and it leads you to Robin. But what if it only led you to Robin because he was your soul mate in that destiny?"

"I'm not following you because as much as I like Robin. I really did like him, I don't feel like he is my soul mate."

"Exactly," Tink said excitedly.

"I am still confused."

Tink picked up a salt shaker. "Let's say that this is your original destiny, ok? And this," she said picking up the pepper shaker. "This is your destiny after the curse. So when I used the fairy dust it picked out a soul mate from your pepper destiny. But what if you are no longer on that destiny, which means the whole fairy dust would be moot. What if you are back on your salt destiny and in that destiny Robin isn't your soul mate? What if there is someone different now?"

"If I am understanding this right," Regina said picking up the salt. "And this is now my destiny again, how would that be possible unless the curse broke?"

"It wouldn't be. And salt may not be your destiny any more," she said picking up the sugar. "It may have changed to something completely different at this point because of the life you have led. Either way, the curse would have had to have broken."

"But how would that have happened after all of these years?"

"True love's kiss," Tink shrugged. "Which also means who you are really supposed to be with is here in this town."

Regina looked at the sugar container. "Emma said before she found me that I called out to someone, I said something like 'please don't leave,' maybe someone was in the stable with me before she found me. She never saw anyone and she admitted she wasn't really paying attention if there was someone else there."

Tink clapped her hands in enthusiasm, "which means your true love could have been there."

"But if they were there, why would they leave and why wouldn't they say something now?"

"I don't know. Maybe they are waiting for the right time."

"You don't think it could be Dr. Whale?"

"No," Tink said. "Definitely not."

"Why not? He's the only one who has shown any interest."

"He was also unconscious at the hospital with the rest of the adults, and ugh the idea that he is, you'd be better off skipping the true love thing."

"You and Emma should get together. She was also not part of the Whale fan club."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, she practically yelled at me for even thinking about going out with him."

"Interesting."

"Henry and I better get back home. I don't want to miss the messenger."

Tink drove them home and dropped them off. About an hour and half later a courier showed up. "Thank you," Regina said giving him a tip.

"Is that your new pain medication?" Henry asked.

"Yes." Regina said, trying to open it and failing with one arm. She had Henry get the scissors out and he cut through the packaging for her. She sat down and read the directions. It was Vicodin and as long as she didn't plan on running any heavy equipment she figured she would be fine. Henry brought her a bottle of water and she took one of the pills.

…

Emma was lying on her couch being totally uninterested in the TV show that was on when there was a knock at the door. She got up and opened it.

"Tink, what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk about Regina."

"Is she alright?" Emma asked, the concern evident in her voice which only made Tink smile.

"There wasn't anyone else in the stable that night when you found her, was there?"

"What, um, no not that I saw. There could have been someone though; I didn't check."

"I am betting there wasn't," Tink said. "Otherwise they may have seen you two share true love's kiss."

Emma pulled her into the apartment and shut the door.

"I knew it!" Tink said jumping up and down while clapping.


	18. Chapter 18

"Would you stop jumping up and down," Emma said.

Tink did so, but she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. "You and Regina shared true love's kiss."

She didn't ask, she merely made the statement.

"That's not what happened," Emma said quickly. "And why would you even think something like that?"

"The curse, the one Rumple and her mother put on her, it broke that night, didn't it?"

"I don't know what you are going on about," Emma said putting some distance between her and Tink. "I found Regina in the stables, I brought her to the hospital and that is it."

"So at no time have you kissed Regina?"

"Why would I do that?"

"That doesn't really answer the question."

Emma didn't respond.

"I am not going anywhere until you tell me the truth. Or maybe I should go talk to Regina about what I suspect and then she can ask you herself."

Emma sighed. "Regina kissed me, let's get that straight off the bat. She kissed me. She was in pain, she was feverish, she had no idea what was even going on. She kissed me."

"And what happened when she did?"

"There was … there was a pulse of magic."

"I knew it," Tink clapped again. "You two broke the curse that was placed on Regina. Oh my this means you and …"

"Stop right there," Emma interrupted. "It doesn't have to mean anything."

"How can you say that? You are the product of true love and now you've found your true love."

"No I haven't. You aren't the only one who has suspicions about what they think happened. You want to know what I think? I think Regina went to the stables that night because she was so out of her mind with the fever and hallucinations that she thought she was there to see Daniel. It's the only explanation that makes sense as to why she would go all the way out there. She thought she was there to see her true love and when I came around she kissed me thinking it was him. This magic whatever it was, it came from her belief that she was kissing Daniel, not me."

"I don't think it works like that," Tink said.

"Why doesn't it? Do you have a true love handbook that gives you all the answers as to how it's supposed to work because it seems plausible to me. Daniel was her true love. Ask you yourself if you want. Everything she did was because she lost him. If he were to magically appear right now, he is who she would want to be with."

Tink crossed her arms. Somehow she hadn't expected this much resistance on Emma's part. Sure she was curious as to why Emma would keep the kiss a secret, but she hadn't expected a flat out denial of what was clear to her.

"Are you saying your feelings for Regina haven't changed?"

"The only reason I may care more about Regina than say some other random person in this town I happen to know is because she is Henry's mother. That is it. And that doesn't equate to love."

"And you aren't planning on telling her about the kiss?"

"I don't see any reason to and I would appreciate it if you kept that to yourself as well. Doing so would only complicate things."

"For you, you mean. It would complicate things for you."

"And for her. She has enough on her mind without you putting ideas like this in it. You are her friend, aren't you the least bit concerned that she seems determined to find out about this curse – even putting herself in harm's way to do it. She was ready to have another MRI done just on the chance it would bring her another vision. Given how the last ones turned out, you can't stand there and tell me it's a good idea."

"I don't know. Dr. Whale seems eager to look after her in more ways than one," and Tink smiled as she saw Emma's jaw tighten just a little bit at the mention of Whale.

"You don't like him anymore than I do Tink, but hey if Regina trusts him then it's really none of mine, nor your business."

Damn it, Tink said in her mind. She thought she had Emma there with that one.

"Perhaps she wouldn't be worrying about finding out about a curse that is no longer even active if you told her that it wasn't."

"We have no proof that it isn't active."

"You are stubborn," Tink said. "You and Regina are perfect for each other. You are both stubborn mules. I don't get it. Why are you so against even the idea of this?"

Emma turned from her. "I am the Savior. Do you think I asked for that? Do you think I asked for some destiny to be laid out before me? I was destined to come here and break the curse that Regina cast on all the people here, and I did it. Does that mean every aspect of my life has to laid out in some order? I make my own choices," Emma said turning back toward her. "I certainly wouldn't choose Regina. Now unless you have some other things to discuss with me, I have things to do."

"No, I don't have anything else to discuss. And you are right, there is no reason for me to tell Regina about the kiss. Maybe you are right. Maybe it was her belief in Daniel that did it. He is certainly a better choice than you."

Tink stormed out and Emma slammed the door behind her. She went back and sat on the couch. "Fuck," she swore. She had been hoping this would all blow over without anyone finding out about that damn kiss. She had been hoping it would all stop.

It was like Regina had infected every part of her brain.

And if she was being honest with herself – something she had been trying to avoid – Regina had been there in the recesses of her brain before the kiss. When she drank that potion to get her memories back she remembered her life before Storybrooke, Henry showing up at her door on her birthday, coming here, meeting her parents and meeting Regina.

A lot of those memories were of Regina. It made sense she had told herself at the time, because she had many interactions with the other woman when she was in Storybrooke. Outside of her family, Regina was the person she had probably been around the most.

Then when they were working together against Zelena, there was a moment when she and Regina were alone and she was saying to Regina how she always knew when she was telling the truth, she recalled looking at the brunette, and her looking back and there was this moment – and then it was gone.

That was the first time she had the conscious thought that Regina was …

That was the question what was Regina to her? And if they really did share true love's kiss, what did that mean for her and Regina's future?

She knew she shouldn't have said those things to Tink about how she wouldn't have chosen Regina, but she didn't need anymore pressure than she already felt. She was still feeling anger over Dr. Whale. Whether she chose to do something about Regina or not, she wasn't going to let that man near Regina in that way.

She punched the couch.

"I have feelings for her," she said quietly. She knew saying it out loud would make it more real. "I have feelings for her and I have no idea what the hell to do about it."

She needed to clear her head, so she grabbed her jacket and walked out the door.

"Jesus," she swore. "You scared the shit out of me."

"I thought I might try again," Tink said shrugging.

Emma shook her head. "So how the hell is this true love thing supposed to work?"


	19. Chapter 19

"Absolutely not," Emma said.

"Why not?" asked Tink. "What's the point if you don't tell her about the kiss?"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around this so why don't you cut me some slack? Besides you agreed that we would handle this my way."

"That was before I realized that you admitting that you shared true love's kiss with Regina and actually doing anything about it were two different things."

"I didn't say I wasn't going to do anything about it, but whatever I decide has to be my decision."

They had gone back into her apartment to talk and Emma was feeling even more uneasy about this. She wasn't sure she could trust Tink to keep quiet about this. Tink seemed too eager to get her and Regina together.

"Besides we have other concerns," Emma continued. "Regina is determined to figure out what happened to her when she was a kid, and apparently is willing to risk her own life to do it. I have no doubt that if I hadn't followed her to the hospital, she probably would have agreed to undergo another MRI. You know more about this magic stuff than I do, is there another way to find out the truth?"

"I don't suggest trying to summon Cora's ghost."

"Yeah, I think that goes without saying."

"We could just go ask Rumple."

"Regina was totally opposed to that idea, although it makes the most sense. I am not sure why but Regina is suddenly afraid of him. It doesn't make any sense. She has never acted scared of him before, but after these glimpses, the very idea of talking to him has her spooked."

"Then we go talk to him for her and she won't need to worry about it."

"Ok, but tomorrow."

"Tomorrow it is," she smiled.

…

Regina woke feeling better than she had – the Vicodin had helped her with the pain which allowed her to sleep. After dressing she went downstairs to get Henry breakfast. She managed to scramble some eggs – she tried over easy at first, but with her arm that didn't work out well – and make some toast and pour milk for him.

He came down, looking tired as usual. Her son was not a morning person and she wondered suddenly if Emma was. She placed the plate in front of him and bent down and kissed the top of his head.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Do I have to have a reason?"

"No."

"Good," she smiled.

"You are in a good mood this morning."

"I had my best night of sleep since coming home from the hospital. Those pills that Dr. Whale gave me really helped."

"That's good," he said.

"Yes it is," she said. She really did feel better, she thought as she drank her second glass of milk. Everything seemed to be better – she couldn't explain, but since waking up in the hospital she felt lighter somehow. She felt like her past wasn't dragging her down. Henry was here with her and he loved her. She was even getting along well with people she never thought she would get along with – Tink, Emma and even Dr. Whale.

Even things like the eggs, which normally would have made her mad if she had messed them like she did when trying to make them over easy, didn't bother her.

Her life was far from perfect, but right now at least, she felt good about it.

"Do you think Emma would like to come over for dinner?" Regina asked.

"Um, I don't know, maybe."

"I just think it would be a nice gesture, a way to let her know that neither of us is going to hold a grudge about things."

"Are you going to wait until you heal more?"

"I wasn't planning on it. I thought she could come over tonight."

"You might want to rethink that," he said opening his hand – there were some small pieces of egg shells lying in it.

She laughed out loud which made Henry laugh in turn.

…

Emma met Tink in the morning so they could go to Mr. Gold's shop first thing. They entered to find Belle cleaning in one corner.

"Emma," Belle said excitedly coming over and kissing her.

"Congratulations on your wedding," Emma said.

"Thank you. It was like a dream come true."

"I'm glad. You deserve to be happy."

"What brings you here?"

"I … we were hoping to talk to Mr. Gold about something."

"He's in the back. I'll go get him."

She disappeared into the back and Emma stood there as Tink walked around looking at various items with curiosity. A few moments later Mr. Gold came limping out. "Ah sheriff, to what do I owe your little visit?"

"I need some information."

"About what?"

"Skiver Fever. I am sure you heard about the outbreak."

"It was so awful, all those kids," Belle said.

"Yes it was all people were talking about when we returned from our honeymoon."

Emma had already told Tink to keep her mouth shut and let her handle this. She didn't want to tip off Gold on what she was asking about specifically at first.

"I was wondering if you had ever heard of a cure for it – a magical cure?"

"Alas," Gold said. "Until Regina apparently cured those children, there has been no magical cure for it. I would be interested in how she did it, but I was told she doesn't remember it."

"She does not."

"I wish I could be of more help sheriff, but I also understand that Dr. Whale is working on a cure using his science, so a magical one would not be needed if it happened again."

"Yes," she said. "I was just trying to cover all the bases by asking you."

"Understandable."

"Thank you for your time," Emma said backing away. "Belle we should get together, have a ladies night out to celebrate your marriage since we didn't get to do the whole bachelorette thing."

"I would like that."

Tink looked at her in confusion as they walked to the door. They just reached it when Emma turned. "Oh, I almost forgot. There was just one more thing. You know I have been trying to learn some of my own magic. You know just in case. Regina let me look at some of her mother's books. Do you know anything about a curse that changes a person's destiny?"

Gold looked at her intently. "I have heard of such a thing, but haven't ever met anyone who has done it. It would be highly powerful magic, too powerful for even me to do alone. And it also tends to be unpredictable."

"How so?"

"It's best if you simply forgot about what you read in one of Cora's books. There are some things even you shouldn't meddle in."

"You are probably right," Emma smiled. "After all, if the magic was too powerful for you to do alone, it must be dangerous."

"I suppose that depends on the person whose destiny got changed."

"Definitely dangerous then," she said before walking out.

They got into Emma's car.

"What was the point in that? You didn't really ask him anything."

"Actually I did and now we know."

"Know what?"

"Rumple didn't change Regina's destiny, Rumple and Cora did. She had to have been involved."

"We already knew she was there."

"But we didn't know how active she was in this. She cursed her own daughter and you can bet that it had little to do with actually wanting to save Regina's life, at least not entirely. We already know Rumple used Regina to cast the curse to bring us here so he could find Neal. We know Cora wanted Regina on the throne. No wonder she became the Evil Queen. She never stood a chance."

"Ok, but this doesn't really get us anywhere."

"It gives us enough of an answer that there is no reason for Regina to go looking for more."

"Is that what this was all about, making sure Regina doesn't undergo another MRI?"

"Yes, and frankly this is not something she needs to be delving into. She already knows enough about her mother, she doesn't need to be hurt by her anymore. And as long as Gold stays away from her there should be no issues."

"But what about you know – you and her?"  
Emma looked at her and then back at the road. "There is no me and her – at least not right now. I don't know how things work where you are from but here we don't just yell true love and then jump in the sack together."

"I don't know what that means."

"It means I would like to get to know Regina a little better first, spend some time with her and find out what she likes and dislikes."

"You wish to court her?'

"Um yes if that is the fancy word for date her."

Tink clapped her hands excitedly.

"You have to stop doing that," Emma said.

…

Regina took another of the Vicodin in the late afternoon and went to lie down for a little bit. She took a bottle of water upstairs with her in case she got thirsty. She had been earlier that morning, but then the feeling passed.

Now all she wanted to do was take a nap.

She had been thinking a lot about what Tink had said about her destiny and how it may back to its original one or be something entirely different now. She found she liked the idea either way. Maybe this was her chance to get things right.

But there was still some residual anger there – anger she couldn't quite seem to feel like she did in the past. Before her anger was like oil on top of water – there was no way to touch the water without touching the oil. Now it was like the anger was the sand below the water and even if she touched it, it would slip through her fingers.

It was there though. Someone had stolen her destiny. Rumple, she thought. He had done this to her, yet when she met again as an adult she hadn't remembered seeing him before. Why not? And why now?

Tink believed the curse had been broken by her true love, and she'd be lying if she didn't find that appealing. She thought about the dream she had had where Daniel had told her that her loved belonged to another now.

As she let her head sink into the pillow, she realized she wanted to know who that person was.


	20. Chapter 20

Emma waited in her car, trying to figure out what to do, what to say. How did one ask someone who used to be an evil queen out on a date?

Tink was making it seem like this was easy but it was anything but easy. First of all, true love's kiss aside, Regina and her had spent a lot of time hating each other. Was she really supposed to believe that would all magically disappear?

She had been putting off asking Regina out for days and Tink was becoming impatient and she didn't trust the fairy not to tell Regina. She finally got out of her car – after checking her reflection in the mirror – and approached the house. She rang the bell and Regina answered.

"Hi," Emma said.

"I'm glad you are here," Regina said grabbing her hand and pulling her in. She brought her into the main room where Henry was sitting on the floor by the coffee table. There was a game of Monopoly on it. "Your son has beat me at every board game he owns. You need to beat him at something. I don't care what it is at this point."

Emma couldn't help but smile. "Hey kid, why aren't you taking it easy on your mom?"

"What would she learn from that?"

Emma turned back to Regina, "definitely your son, but no fear, I am an expert at board games."

Emma sat down and they reset the board game, Emma pulling Regina down on the floor as well. "You aren't getting out of this."

They played several board games throughout the evening Emma winning a few, but mostly breaking even with Henry. There was plenty of laughter and good-natured fun. Every once in a while she would look over at Regina, who was smiling, and she wondered why she never noticed what an amazing smile she had before. Then realized she never saw Regina smile much and when she did it wasn't with the innocence it seemed to have now.

After Henry went to bed, Emma stayed and talked to Regina.

"That's like your third glass of water since I got here. Are you ok?" Emma asked concerned.  
"Yes I am fine. I had a quick check up today since I changed pain medicine. Everything is as normal as it can be. I might even get this sling off next week. Dr. Whale said my collarbone should be healed enough be then."

"That's good."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Tonight was fun," Emma said finally.

"Yes, it was. Although it occurs to me that I never asked you what you were doing here in the first place when I dragged you in here."

"Oh, well, I hadn't really stopped by in a couple of days so I thought I would check in and make sure everything was alright, and it is, so you know good," she said hearing herself sound like an idiot.

"I was actually thinking that when I get full use of my arm back and can cook a decent meal that maybe you would like to come over for dinner, just the three of us like tonight. Henry was upset before but he isn't now, and I thought we could maybe put the past in the past."

"Yeah, that would be really great."

"Then it's settled."

They talked a little more but as it was getting late Emma got up to leave. Regina walked her to the door. Emma stood there just outside. "Tonight really was great. I really enjoyed spending time together like … like that. And um thanks for the dinner invite. I am looking forward to it."

"So am I," Regina said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Emma walked back to her car feeling a little cowardish for not asking Regina out, but since Regina sort of asked her out first she figured it was a start. When she said that last part about enjoying spending time together, she had stopped herself from saying what she really meant, which was that it felt like a family.

She couldn't even manage to ask the woman who was supposedly her true love out on a date, fast-forwarding to a family was certainly out of the question. As she got in her car though she felt lighter, like those few hours had lifted a weight off of her. She would gladly take that feeling anytime.

…

Regina was smiling as she locked up the house and went up to bed – stopping first to get a bottle of water. She hadn't enjoyed an evening like that in, well she couldn't remember when did last.

When she had answered the door to find Emma standing there it felt as natural as it could be to invite her in. As they played the games, she would look over at the sheriff every once and while and she was struck by how beautiful she was. She had spent so much time at odds with the other woman she wasn't sure she ever really appreciated how perfect she looked.

And her laugh. It was infectious.

Seeing her interact with Henry, laughing and joking around it almost felt like … like a family, she realized.

She was sure Emma didn't see it that way, but to her at least that is what it felt like.

She got ready for bed and ended up drinking half the bottle of water before turning off the lights. She had been thirsty lately, she thought. She had told Dr. Whale about it but he didn't seem concerned, said it could be a reaction to the new medication.

It was nothing like it was before she got sick. At that point she was drinking water almost continuously.

She still had so many questions about what had happened to her – both here and in the past. She had gone back down to the crypt (with Tink who was acting odd even for her) and looked through more of her mother's stuff. This time she went through her mother's spellbooks. She had, of course, been through them before, but she also knew her mother had written many notes in them, notes which unless Regina had some context for them she didn't know what they were. She had been able to decipher many of them in the past, but many still remained unknown.

Tink had carried the books back for her. She had them locked away in a cabinet downstairs, but she had begun that afternoon to go through them. She spent nearly an hour looking at a couple of pages in one of them. There were notes written along the edges of pages of a binding spell. The spell itself wasn't anything too major, it simply bound light magic – kept the user from casting any light magic for a limited amount of time. Her mother preferred direct approaches so she was somewhat surprised to see the spell in there. If someone was going after her mother using light magic, she wouldn't have bothered binding the person she would have taken them on directly and killed them or arranged for a covert way to kill them. This was exactly the kind of spell Cora would have told her not to bother learning.

Yet her mom had written along the pages with what looked to be a part of another spell. She could only make out some of the words though as the rest of it was written in a maybe some sort of short hand. What little she could make out didn't make sense to her, yet there was something about it that seemed familiar to her.

There was only one person in town she could consult with and he was not someone she wanted to see.

The fact he would have done something to her with her mother's help was not surprising to her. But it wasn't like she was just remembering the event, it was like she had relived it and that feeling of fear when he approached her still made her shiver.

She had been his pawn, used to cast his spell but would it have occurred to her that he had a hand in her life that early on.

But if she truly wanted answers, she may not have a choice but to go see him.

…

It was not like his mom not to be up, so Henry went and knocked on her door the next morning. "Mom?" he said a moment before opening the door.

Regina sat up in bed. "Henry? What time is it?"

"It's after 10."

"You're late for school."

"It's Saturday," he said concerned. He walked closer to the bed. "Are you ok?"

"Yes," she said still trying to get the cobwebs out of her head. "I must have been extra tired, but I am fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Come here," she said, and he came close so she could give him a hug. "I am fine. I promise."

"How late did Emma stay last night?"

"Not long," she said. "But she did accept the dinner invite for as soon as I am capable of it."

"Are you two like friends now?"

Regina thought about it a moment. "I don't know. I am not opposed to that if she wants to be friends. Would you like us to be friends?"

"I like that you two are getting along."

"I sense a little hesitation there."

He shrugged. "I just hope if you become friends that you know it doesn't go badly."

"You mean you hope I don't mess it up."

"No, I didn't mean that."

"It's ok Henry. Do you remember once when I told you that I didn't know how to love very well?"

"Yes."

"You know enough now about what my life was like before. I am not saying that excuses the things I have done, it doesn't. But I don't want my life to go in that direction ever again either. I don't know how to explain it, but for the first time in my life that I can remember I feel like whatever I decide to do next will be my choice, not someone else's and I want to make the best choices for you and for me. And that may mean being friends with Sheriff Swan."

"You should really call her Emma."

"Fine. Emma."


	21. Chapter 21

Regina sat behind her desk at work. It had been forever since she had been here – or so it felt. But she was still mayor, even if she had taken medical leave. There were so many things to catch up on. She had been in contact with her secretary and members of city council so it wasn't as if she was totally out of the loop on things. Her arm was still in the sling but in a few days that too could be gone and she might be able to fully participate in life again.

She started by going through paperwork – putting aside things that had been dealt with in her absence and prioritizing those that hadn't. She worked all morning, not paying much attention to the time until Emma came in her office.

"Hey," she said holding up a bag of food from Granny's. "I figured you would forget lunch on your first day back."

"Thank you," Regina smiled. "I guess I did lose track of time."

She handed her the bag. "Nothing for you?"

"I can't stay. Keeping the village safe and all," Emma said exaggerating her pose a bit to seem tougher.

Regina smiled at the display. "I am sure you will have all the criminals quaking in their boots. Thank you though for the food. I appreciate it."

"No problem. Tink could have brought it, but again it is my job to keep the streets safe too," she joked.

"She's getting better," Regina said although when Tink drove her to work that morning she wasn't saying that.

"I will remember you said that the first time she suggests going on a cross-country drive with you."

There was a moment of awkward silence and Emma took that as a signal to leave. "I should get moving. Enjoy your food."

"I will."

After Emma left, Regina thought again how natural it felt to have Emma coming around. It wasn't that long ago that she would have detested having Emma around this much. She would have been sure the other woman was up to something if she was this nice to her, but she didn't feel that way now. Now it was like having a new friend.

She ate her food while working, getting up a couple of times to get a bottle of water to drink. Her secretary came in at the end of the day to let her know she was leaving and to make sure she didn't need anything else.

"I am good. Oh and Miss Russell, thank you for keeping things in such working order while I was gone. I appreciate it," she said.

Her secretary looked at her in surprise but stuttered out a "you're welcome." She then saw the empty bottles of water in the trash can. "Should I stock up on more water?" she asked, noting there were five empty bottles.

"Um, yeah that would be great. Thanks."

Her secretary left and she continued to work for another hour until Tink showed up to drive her home. "How was the first day back?"

"A lot of catch up work," Regina said yawning.

"You probably shouldn't have worked a full day."

"It's fine. I had to go back at some point and would you please keep your eyes on the road. You need to learn to talk and drive. It doesn't require you to look at the person all the time."

"Hey I am getting better."

"Yes I know. I told Emma that earlier."

"You saw Emma today?"

"Yes. She brought me lunch," Regina said smiling, which Tink noticed.

"That was nice of her."

"It was."

She got home and Henry was there already having finished up his homework. Regina cooked some pasta for dinner but Regina found she wasn't that hungry.

"Are you ok?" Henry asked her as she was picking at her food.

"I am not that hungry," she said.

"But you are feeling ok?"

"I am a little thirsty, but Dr. Whale said that is probably a side effect of that pain medication, which thankfully I haven't had to take much of in the last 24 hours as the pain seems to have lessened. I can't wait to get this sling off. You have no idea how much you use your collarbone on a daily basis until someone tells you that you can't use it."

"I was thinking when summer comes around that I might want to play baseball."

"Baseball, really?"

"Yeah. The summer rec league signups are coming up soon, and I thought I would like to try it. Would that be possible?"

"I think that would be great," she said. "You can make new friends, try something different. I will be more than happy to sign the form as soon as I talk to Emma and make sure it is ok with you."

Henry smiled at her and wondered if this was how it was going to be from now on – his moms actually talking about decisions that affected him.

After dinner, Regina pulled out her mom's book again. She spent the next couple of hours sitting on the couch with a pen and paper trying to decipher the notes. If she was doing it right the notes indicated a spell meant to be used in conjunction with the binding spell. It was a booster of some sort, she thought, but admitted she wasn't sure.

She thought maybe it strengthened the binding spell, maybe extended the time from which the person was blocked from using their white magic.

There were two letters written at the top 'AD' that she had no idea what it meant or if it was even part of it. She knew she had seen that mark before too in some of her mother's other book written next to spells.

She was tired and about ready to fall asleep on the couch when she locked the books up again and retired to bed. She felt a little flushed and warm as she was brushing her teeth, but shrugged it off as a sign that she maybe did a little too much that day.

It didn't take her long to fall asleep.

_She watched as the man came closer to her. She didn't want him to touch her, so she tried to get away again, but her mother held on to her. She didn't have the strength to fight her._

_"Calm down Regina," her mother said to her. "He is going to make the pain go away."_

_She didn't believe that. She could barely concentrate but she heard them talking. He was going to take away her destiny and her mom was going to allow it. She didn't want that to happen. She struggled again, but it was a losing battle. She couldn't break free from her mother's arms._

_"That's it my darling, calm down," Cora said wiping some of her sweaty hair from her face. Maybe I am hallucinating, Regina thought. Her father had said she had been hallucinating. Maybe that was what this was. Maybe it wasn't real._

_But the moment the man touched her arm and pulled it out straight, she knew that wasn't the case. He had a dagger that was curvy but sharp. It had writing on in it but she couldn't make it out. He made an incision that was only about two inches long on her forearm._

_"Give me your hand," he said to Cora and he made an incision on her palm._

_"What's this for?" Cora asked._

_"It's part of a binding spell," he said, placing her palm down on Regina's arm so the cuts lined up. "You were right about your daughter – she has light magic. Her light magic could keep this curse from working, it's not likely but it could alter things. We need to use your magic to bind hers that way she can't access it. We want her to have access to only one kind of magic for this to work."_

_She heard him reciting a spell and she felt cold like it was seeping into that cut._

_"Mom," she cried out weakly.  
"It's ok. We're almost done," Cora said kissing her head. "We're almost done and you are going to be all better, I promise."_

_The spell ended and Regina felt odd all of a sudden. She felt like someone had stolen something from her but she didn't know what. It's like she could feel what was stolen, she just couldn't touch it._

_She started to cry. She didn't understand what was going on but she wanted it to stop. Her mother tried to console her or at least get her to stop making noise but she couldn't stop. This felt wrong. She didn't want to feel this way._

_"Now for the curse," the man said._

_"Wait," Cora said._

_"Dearie, this is hardly the time for waiting."_

_"Will this really lead to her becoming powerful?"_

_"It can yes. It can lead to many things. It's an Altered Destiny curse, but the thing about destiny is it's not set in stone like everyone thinks. It is moveable. Your job is to keep Regina moving in the right direction."_

_"Meaning?"_

_"Meaning she will need to be given nudges every once in a while to keep her on the right path, particularly when it comes to her true loves."_

_"True loves – there is more than one?"_

_"Again that depends. The first one will appear when she is still young. It is important that this person whoever it may be is eliminated."_

_"And the second?"_

_"The second I do not know enough about. It's possible they never meet. If they do though, I can see this whole thing unraveling. You can't let that happen. I won't let that happen."_

Regina woke, the dream fresh in her mind. Dream, no she thought, memory. It was a memory. It had to be. She rushed downstairs and retrieved her mom's book. Opening it to the page she had been studying. The spell, her mother had been trying to remember the spell she heard Rumpelstiltskin cast – the one that bound her light magic away for more than just a limited time. He had used her mother's blood to work the binding spell, which meant when her mom died the spell would have disappeared with it.

She was so full of grief at the time she hadn't noticed any difference. She had light magic though, and if her mom knew it, it meant she was born with it. She hadn't known she had this magic until Henry had suggested she had it and she could use it to defeat Zelena.

She thought back to that moment. Zelena's magic had her held fast but then she realized not only could she feel the light magic, she could touch it.

It had been there all along, she just hadn't been able to touch it because of the binding spell.

She felt anger suddenly as intense as she had ever felt it before. She wanted to destroy something – destroy it like her life had been destroyed by Rumpelstiltskin and her mother. She looked at the writing at the top of the page. AD – she now knew what it stood for Altered Destiny. It was on pages in other books which meant there were more spells associated with it or at least associated with her and what had been done to her.

"It's not fair," she said. "It's not fair."

She felt the tears on her cheeks before she realized she was crying. She was breathing harder now, feeling like she was going to spiral out of control. The edges of her vision were going black she noticed a moment before she passed out.

Across town Emma was already in her car. She had woken knowing immediately that Regina was under some sort of distress.

She had to get to her.


	22. Chapter 22

"Are you sure she is ok?" Emma asked.

"She will be fine yes," Dr. Whale said giving Regina look meant to ask, 'what is she even doing here.'

"Thank you, doctor," Regina said. "I am sorry they had to call you in late like this. I am sure another of the doctors could have handled it."

"It's Victor and nonsense," he said. "You are my patient and the staff is under my orders to call me if you come in no matter what the hour is. No doctor sees you but me. You went through a recent medical scare and it's my job to see you through it to the end."

This time Emma gave Regina a look meant to convey her annoyance at the doctor. She stood next to the chair Henry was sitting in. She had arrived at the mansion and had rang the bell and then pounded on the door until Henry answered. She had asked where Regina was, moving all the way up the stair to her room with Henry on her heels only to find she wasn't there. They went back down and found Regina on the floor just waking up.

Emma insisted on taking her to the hospital, despite Regina's assurance that she was fine. Once there, they had to wait until Dr. Whale arrived, which annoyed Emma – a fact she pretty much let the night nurses know.

Regina had herself discharged, even though Dr. Whale told her that it would ok if she stayed overnight – the one thing Emma did seem to agree with – and they could run more tests in the morning just in case. Regina politely refused reminding them both that she had yet another doctor's appointment soon where she would hopefully be getting the sling off. If there were any further issues she said she would address them at that time.

Of course saying that got her a lecture from Whale – who again was backed up by Emma – than any issues should be dealt with immediately if they arose.

They got in the car, Henry half-asleep in the back seat before they got their seat belts latched.

Emma started the car and looked at Regina, "maybe it wouldn't hurt if you spent the night at the hospital."

"You heard him, I am fine. I just had a panic attack," she said.

"You don't have panic attacks."

"Which makes it distressing, but not life-threatening."

"I just want to make sure you are ok," she said. "Do you want to tell me what set the panic attack off?"

"I had a nightmare," she said softly.

Emma didn't say anything at first. "Why were you downstairs though, on the floor?"

Regina looked out the window as the quiet town moved beyond the pane of glass. Sometimes she forgot that this town existed because of her, because of her own need to get revenge. Other times she couldn't forget that fact.

She remembered back in Neverland where she boldly told Pan that she had no regrets. She had none because it brought her Henry. She glanced in the back at him now. She couldn't regret the things that brought her, her son.

But lately – not lately, since she started having these memories of being sick and being "cured" – she had been re-examining her life. She couldn't help but wonder if her original destiny would have brought her the kind of happiness where she would never had to worry about regrets. Had that really been stolen from her?

The other thing she realized was that you can miss something that was never yours to begin with. She felt it every day now; she missed that destiny that was supposed to have been hers, but she never got to experience.

This latest memory though, it felt like it had stripped her bare in a way she couldn't turn back from. Rumple knew she had a true love and he had simply said that person needed to be eliminated. Daniel, she thought. He didn't die because Snow told her mother about him. He died because he had loved her and that didn't fit into the destiny that Cora and Rumple wanted her to have.

It made sense that Cora would want a destiny that involved power and royalty for Regina. It was all she ever talked about.

But what were Rumple's motivations? Had he known even when she was that young that she would be needed to cast his curse? Had he foreseen it and placed her on this new path just for her to get him here to this world to find his son?

She felt like her whole life was a lie.

When Regina didn't answer her question Emma got a little concerned. She watched as the other woman stared out the window, lost in thought. She wondered if she should do something, put a comforting hand on her or just tell her it was all going to be ok. She did neither; too unsure of what would be the right thing to do.

She had panicked when she had woken and felt Regina's distress. Her mind never questioned that she was actually feeling what Regina was feeling. She merely felt it and knew where she needed to be.

Running up the stairs to Regina's bedroom, all she knew was that she needed to find her, see her, and know she was ok. Her heart felt constricted when she saw Regina was not in her room and it felt like someone was squeezing it from the inside when she saw Regina on the floor downstairs.

It was like seeing her in the stable that night. And she actually found she wanted to hold Regina in her arms and make sure she was ok, but of course she hadn't.

They got back to the mansion and Emma went inside with them, making sure Henry got back into bed. She walked back downstairs and saw Regina holding a book in her hand. Emma realized that it had been there on the floor earlier with Regina.

"What is that?"

"Another of my mother's spellbooks," she said. "She had collected many of them over the years. Always in search of more power."

She put the book in a small cabinet with others and locked it.

"What does one of your mother's spellbooks have to do with your nightmare? And don't say nothing."

Regina proceeded to tell her about finding the notation in the book earlier, and then told her about the nightmare. Emma came closer to her as she described how much fear she felt from being in that room with Rumple. She told her how she had woken and come down here to check the book after recognizing what the notations were because of the dream.

The emotions of it were threatening to over take her again, and Emma stepped in taking her hand at first and then pulling her in for a hug careful not to press into her because of her arm. "It's ok," she said softly. "We will figure this out. Together."

Regina pulled back slightly, but she was still in Emma's arms staring directly into her eyes. "How did you know? How did you know to come here when I …?"

"I don't know how, I just knew," she said.

This time she didn't wait for Regina. This time she instigated the kiss.

Their lips touched and Emma knew immediately that this woman was indeed her true love. They were slow kisses, kisses meant to convey the simple message of love.

Regina was the first to stop. She looked at Emma.

"You are … that night at the stables, you were …"

"I was the one you kissed."

"That's not possible," Regina said moving back.

"I know it seems crazy, I mean it's you and me, but you know it also kind of makes a bit of crazy sense. We're Henry's parents and you know we already fight like a married couple."

"You have to stay away from me," Regina said trying to walk around her but Emma stopped her.

"Wait," Emma said. "You can't just tell me to stay away from you a second after you find out I am your true love."

"It's because you are my true love that I am telling you to stay away," Regina said. "You should have resisted whatever urge you had to come to the stables that night. You should have let me die."

"How can you say that?"

"Because … because my true loves die."


	23. Chapter 23

"You have to talk to her," Emma was saying to Tink. "She won't let me anywhere near her."

"I've tried," Tink said as the two of them sat in Emma's apartment. "She is adamant that she will not go down the path of true love with you."

"This is ridiculous. I am not going to die just because I happen to be her true love."

"She doesn't see it that way. Whatever this thing is that happened to her in the past, it has her scared."

Emma got up and walked over to the wall, wanting to bang her head up against it. Instead she leaned against it. "How did the doctor's appointment go?" It was what she had meant to ask when Tink had first gotten there, but she found she was still so upset by Regina's rejection of her that she hadn't asked.

"Good. Whale took the sling off and had her move her arm a bit. She has to be careful with it still for the next couple of weeks. He gave her some instructions on some exercises to help redevelop the movements and muscles. He gave her a different prescription for pain medication and some prescription sleeping pills."

"Why? She had pain medication already and why would she need sleeping pills?"

"I think the pain medication was a lower dosage more like the over-the-counter stuff. He said she didn't need to take the others unless she had severe pain. As for the others, well she hasn't been sleeping well since that night. I think she is afraid to sleep."

Emma ran her hands through her hair. She needed to see Regina, but every effort she made was rebuffed. She couldn't help but see the irony of how she was the one wanting to avoid Regina when this all started, but now Regina was avoiding her. Regina had, from what Tink said, accepted that Emma was indeed her true love. She hadn't doubted it like Emma had, but she couldn't get this notion out of her head that it meant Emma was going to die and she would be left alone.

She had told Tink that she would rather be alone and know Emma was alive and safe than the alternative. She had lost one of her loves already, and she felt she couldn't go through that kind of pain again. It wasn't as if Emma didn't understand this. She knew Daniel's death was a major turning point in Regina's life that she hadn't been able to let go, but she didn't understand why Regina was equating what happened to Daniel to her.

Emma needed that information so she could prove to Regina why she was wrong about this.

…

Regina was continuing to catch up on her work. It gave her something to concentrate on if nothing else. She needed to distract herself from this ache in her heart – an ache that had been there since Emma had kissed her and she had realized that Emma was her true love. She was sure she was doing the right thing in order to protect Emma, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

She reached for her water as she reviewed some city payroll paperwork. She double-checked the figures and then looked at payroll projections for the following year as calculated by the city treasurer. She was so engrossed in what she was doing it wasn't until she reached for the water again that she realized that she had drank all of it. She threw the empty bottle away and got up, walking over to her small fridge and pulled out another drinking half of it there before going back to her desk.

With an hour left to go at work she was yawning. She hadn't taken any of the sleeping pills that Dr. Whale had prescribed her yet, but tonight she thought she might. She hadn't been sleeping for more than a couple hours at a time. Her mind was too restless to let her actually rest. She was sure every time she closed her eyes that she would be back in that room with Rumple and her mother. It was the last place she wanted to be.

She had gone through more of her mom's spell books looking for the AD notations. She found them by other spells – one a memory manipulation spell, which she wondered if that was why she had not remembered being sick in the first place. There was another notation by a spell that she had herself had used before but she wasn't sure what it meant in connection with the Altered Destiny curse when it came to her. The spell essentially magnified emotion. She had used it once to magnify the emotion of fear in a person so they would tell her what she wanted to know.

It made her sick just thinking about what her mother may have done to her.

When she was done for the day, she stopped and got a pizza to eat – not feeling like cooking anything. As she pulled in, she saw Emma's car out front. She wasn't in the mood for another confrontation. Henry was home, so she wasn't surprised to see Emma was already in the house. She came up and relieved her of the pizza. "You need to take it easy," Emma said. "Even if you have the sling off there is no reason to overdue it."

"Miss Swan, what are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you and I was hoping maybe we could talk."

"We have nothing to talk about."

"I disagree, but why don't we sit and have dinner with our son. You got pizza, so I must be rubbing off on you a little bit, whether you want to admit it or not."

Regina didn't argue with her. She didn't want to get into it in front of Henry. Despite saying she would be upfront with Henry, she hadn't told him about what happened with her and Emma. Assuming he would be ok with Emma and her being together, she didn't want him to get his hopes up since she planned on keeping her distance from the blonde. Obviously, Emma wasn't going to make that easy.

They ate in the dining room, Regina feeling more comfortable with eating now that she didn't have her arm constantly in that one position. It still hurt a bit – mostly after she did the exercises –but she'd rather it hurt from that than be in that sling a moment more. When Whale took the cast off her arm, she asked to keep it. Not that she wanted reminded of it, but the kids' signatures that were all around it meant a lot to her. Things had been much different for her as far as the way people treated her. The other parents in town at least were no longer shying away from her and it made her smile every time she saw one of the kids who were in the hospital, knowing they were ok and she had something to do with that.

She ate very little for dinner and she noticed Emma studying her anytime she wasn't talking to Henry. After dinner Emma helped her clean up, telling Henry to go on upstairs and she would see him before she left. Emma followed her out to the main room where Regina sat on the couch. She expected Emma to take the chair but instead she sat on the couch as well.

"How are you feeling?" Emma asked. "I noticed you drank like two glasses of water during dinner, are you sure you are ok?"

"I am ok," she said. "This medicine just causes a little dehydration."

"I just want to make sure you know that you are ok and everything."

"I am," she said even as she felt a slight headache she had earlier getting worse.

There was silence between them for several heartbeats.

"We have to talk about this," Emma said finally. "You can't keep pushing me away."

"Yes I can."

"Ok, I guess you can, but why would you want to?"

"Emma …"

"Don't tell me this is about keeping me alive or whatever. I am not in danger because I am your true love."

"You don't know that."

"Then tell me why it is that you think I would be. Is it because of this memory you had? Because your mom isn't a threat."

"And what about Gold? If you don't see him as a threat then you are sadly mistaken."

"He has changed too. He wouldn't do anything to harm me because Belle wouldn't let him. And what possible reason would he have at this point. The curse is broken. Whatever reason he had for helping Cora with it is surely not an issue anymore. There is no reason for him to interfere with our lives. Regina, you can't ignore this, ignore me."

"Why? You tried. Or am I wrong about that? You could have told me immediately what happened in the stables instead you lied to me."

"I know, and I am sorry but I was caught off guard by the whole thing. I admit it; I wasn't ready to accept it. I thought there was some other explanation."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. You thought you were kissing Daniel, so I thought maybe your belief in that was enough to break the curse. I didn't even really believe that but I was trying to come up with some explanation because I wasn't ready to face the fact that I was your true love, but I am ready now. I'm sorry for lying to you."

Regina had always felt a certain pull toward Emma, even when they were fighting. She felt that pull infinitely more now. She knew this woman sitting only inches from her was her true love and she longed to feel those lips on hers once again. She pushed those feelings aside though.

"I won't risk your life," Regina said finally. "I am sorry, but I can't do it."

"I don't accept that."

"That hardly matters. This is my choice and I am asking you to respect it."

"No," Emma said and moved in closer. Regina could see where this was headed and found she was unable to move. Once Emma's lips touched her she didn't want to move. They kissed softly at first, but quickly there came a new urgency in each kiss. Regina knew they had to stop, but she couldn't break it off. There was no denying that she wanted Emma.

Still she pulled away from her stood up – too quickly as it turned out as a wave of dizziness hit her. Before she knew it Emma was there steadying her.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked.

"Yes I just got up too quickly."

"Let's get you back to the couch."

"I'm fine. I think it's time you leave."

"Regina …"

"No. Don't. I need you to leave. Please."

Emma looked at her. She could tell Regina was tired and wondered if maybe she had pushed a little too much. She sighed, "I told Henry that I would say goodbye before I leave."

Regina merely nodded.

She went upstairs and knocked on Henry's door before entering. He was in bed reading a book. "I am taking off," she said sitting down on the edge of the bed. "You keep an eye on your mom for me, ok?"

"She's getting better."

"I know. I just don't want her to be taking on too much. She still needs to rest up until she is 100 percent."

"It was nice having dinner tonight, just the three of us."

"It was," she said giving him a big grin. "Maybe we could do more of that kind of thing in the future. Would you be ok with that?"

"Like as a family?"

"Yes as a family."

This time he smiled, "I would like that a lot."

Emma said good night and went back downstairs. Regina was waiting by the door and Emma walked up to her. "Call me if you need anything," she said. "Even if that happens to be me."

"Emma, I … a couple of kisses doesn't change anything. I meant what I said; I won't risk your life."

Emma cupped Regina's chin and kissed her just the once. "We're going to figure this out," she said. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily."  
"When has anything ever been easy between us?"

"See, that's the spirit," she smiled before stealing another kiss and then leaving.

Regina stood there a moment looking at the closed door. She wanted to open it and call out to Emma not to leave. Instead she locked it and turned off the lights downstairs and headed up to bed. She made a quick stop to say goodnight to Henry and then went into her own room.

She changed clothes, and then opened the two prescription bottles. She took the pain medication first hoping it would do something for the pain in her heart and then downed the two sleeping pills. Once in bed, she lay there for nearly 30 minutes feeling the affects of the pills creep into her body.

Just before she closed her eyes for good she touched the other side of the bed and wondered what it would be like if Emma was lying there beside her.


	24. Chapter 24

Dr. Whale punched the lab table in frustration. He had gone over Regina's latest tests again and again. Even with the low dosage of the Skiver Fever that he had put in her pills she should be sick by now, yet all she had complained about was being thirsty. He knew he was on the verge of real knowledge about how to awake parts of the brain that were dormant, but he needed Regina in order to be able to study her brain under the affects of the fever again.

She should be hospitalized and well on her way through the stages of it, but no she was walking around like there was nothing wrong. There was nothing in her blood work to suggest she had developed an immunity. The only thing he could think of was that this was her magic's doing.

But even her magic could be neutralized. He knew that now thanks to that Greg Mendel who had successfully used an electrical current to prevent Regina from using her magic.

What he needed was to get Regina to a place where he could put the full strain of the fever into her and study her. He already knew where he could do it – the upper wing of the hospital. It wasn't being used and since they rarely had that many people in the hospital it wasn't used. Getting her there without arousing suspicions would be the issue.

But he wasn't willing to let that stop him. He would find a way to finish his life's work.

…

Regina woke feeling a little groggy due to the sleeping pills, but otherwise rested. She showered, which helped with the waking up process and went downstairs after knocking on Henry's door and making sure he was awake. She fixed breakfast and Henry finally arrived to eat it. "Did you pack your things? Emma is picking you up after school."

"Yes. Are you sure you are going to be ok here by yourself for the weekend?"

They had talked the night before that it would be good for Emma and Henry to spend the weekend together.

"I will be fine," she assured him. "Honestly, I do feel a lot better and I know you were probably scared when we were at the hospital because I had that panic attack, but I promise you, I will be fine."

"I was thinking since you had that panic attack that maybe you should stop um looking into what you happened."

She took a seat beside him. "I thought the same thing, but I don't know that I can. Something happened to me back in the past and whatever it was exactly changed things for me. It's important to me to find out why and to make sure that whatever it is, is over. I don't need any more surprises," she said, although she had to admit one of those surprises – Emma – wasn't a bad thing.

"Do you hate your mom for what she did to you?"

She considered the question before answering. "No," she said finally. "It's weird. I feel like I should have justification for hating her, but I don't. I feel anger toward her over it, but even that isn't strong. What she did probably saved my life. I always had a complex relationship with my mother and over the course of the last couple of years I think I've been able to learn more about her and maybe why she did things she did. I am not saying she was right for doing them, but I understand her motivations more."

"I am glad you don't hate her even if what she did was bad."

"Me too," she said. "It's taken me a lifetime to see that hate gets you no where. It's a lesson I am glad I learned, and one I am even happier to say you know at such a young age."

Regina drove him to school and then she went to work somehow not surprised when she saw the sheriff's car parked there. Emma got out as soon as Regina stepped out of her car.

"Good morning," Emma said.

"Good morning. What are you doing here?"

Emma shrugged, "I didn't figure I would get to see you until Sunday when I dropped Henry off again so I thought I would drop by. Is that ok?"

"Yes," Regina said suddenly feeling self-conscious. Her true love was standing right there and it almost took her breath away to think about it. "Do you want to come into the office for a bit, or do you need to hurry off to work?"

"I have some time I can spare."

They walked in and Regina told her secretary that she wasn't to be disturbed as she needed to speak with the sheriff. Emma closed the office door behind them and before Regina could offer her a seat, Emma was kissing her.

Regina kissed her back craving the feel of Emma's soft lips.

Emma broke off the kiss first, "Sorry, but I've been thinking about that since last night."

"Um, it's ok," Regina said putting a little distance between them by going behind her desk and sitting. Emma took the seat in front of it.

"It's a little weird though, right? Me, you, the whole true love thing."

"Yes, it is," Regina said. "I was thinking about the memory I had, and how in it Rumpel said that it was possible that I wouldn't meet my second true love and the thing is, I wouldn't have met you if the curse hadn't have been cast. It's possible I would have met you but I would have been much older when it happened."

"You are still thinking about all of those memories aren't you?"

"It's hard not to," she admitted. "To come to the realization that I might have had a completely different life if they hadn't have cursed me, or I could have simply died. It makes you examine the life you have, the life you've led. When I was sick and hallucinating it was my mother that I kept seeing. It seemed to real, like she was really there in the hospital with me. My mind must have grabbed onto to her because she was the one I saw when I was sick before. Things could have been different between her and I if she had her heart, of that I am sure."

Emma got up and went around to that side of the desk and leaned up against it, looking down at Regina who remained seated.

"I don't want to sound like I am on repeat here, but what happens to you concerns me now too. If you want to keep looking into this, I will support you, but I need to do that by being at your side. Last night when we had dinner as a family, it was great, even Henry thought so. I asked him if he would like to have more times like that and he said yes. I want that too, and I think you do too. I know, I know you think if you and I start acting on this true love thing that I am going to end up dead but you don't know that. I could walk out of here today and die in a car wreck. You can't sit there and tell me you don't feel this pull toward me."

"Of course I feel it. I feel it whenever you are around me, but that doesn't mean I have to give into it."  
Emma made a growling noise. "You are the most aggravating person I know."

"The feeling is mutual."

"Come on Regina, you can't walk away from this. Believe me I tried at the beginning, but I couldn't because my every other thought was about you. Jesus, I fucking kissed Hook after that night at the stables to prove it was nothing and I almost wanted to puke. When Whale had the nerve to ask you out I almost walked in there and punched him. I should have punched him before when you were sick. Did you know he had you strapped to a hospital bed? You should want me to hit him for you just for that."

"But I don't want you to hit him."

"Why not? He was being a complete dick to me and Tink."

"I don't know why I don't want you to hit him. It's like I can't feel anger anymore. I feel it but it's not nearly what it was before I woke up in the hospital. It's like this far away thing that I can just barely brush with my finger tips when it used to be something that felt like a second skin to me. When we kissed I don't think it just broke the curse. I think it also started to make the other magic my mom used on me wear off. The memory spell, obviously put in place to keep me from remembering the curse. There was another spell, one that magnifies emotions – well since I've been awake negative emotions like anger have been completely unlike what they used to be. I used to get angry and would jump on that emotion and it would fuel me. Now I don't want anything to do with it."

"Stand up," Emma said.

Regina gave her a look of confusion, but stood. Emma pulled her into her arms, this time for a hug. Regina couldn't keep herself from relaxing into that embrace. She felt extreme comfort from the gesture.

"Let me in," Emma said softly. "I know you want to so stop fighting it. Not everything has to be a battle; not everything has to end badly."

"I can't," Regina said but it lacked conviction.

Emma kissed her and Regina felt her resolve begin to slip so she pulled away. The two women stood there staring at each other.

"I should get to work," Emma said finally.

"Yes, you should," Regina said and she put a hand on her stomach in an attempt to control the emotions coursing through her. These weren't the negative emotions she had become used to most of her life. This was like having butterflies on steroids. "When you bring Henry back on Sunday, maybe we could talk then. It would give me a couple of days to figure some things out in my head."

"Ok," Emma smiled. "I will maintain my distance until then, but don't think it will be easy."

"I have a feeling it won't be easy for either of us."

This made Emma smile even more. "One more kiss for the road then?"

Regina rolled her eyes, but she gave Emma a small kiss before she left.

…

It was lunch time and Regina was still working hard at playing catch up when the door to her office opened. Her secretary was out to lunch but as she looked up to see who was entering she felt her heart racing as Mr. Gold approached. He sat down nonchalantly in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"You look no worse for wear after your little ordeal," he said.

"Um yes I've almost fully recovered."

"You know Sheriff Swan and your friend Tink came to see me recently. The sheriff was asking me if I knew of any magical cures to Skiver Fever. I told her that I didn't know of any at least until you cured the children with your light magic. Have you remembered yet how you did it?"

"I was in the midst of hallucinations at the time. I barely remember any of my time at the hospital."

"That's a shame. Having that kind of knowledge could be useful."

She was beginning to feel completely uneasy with him being there and wished that Emma was there to be buffer between them.

"The sheriff asked me something else that she said she saw in one of Cora's books. It's called an Altered Destiny curse. Have you indeed found it in one of her books?"

"Um, no. There was a couple of references to it but no actual instructions on how to cast it or what it does. Why do you ask?"

"As I told the sheriff, it's very powerful magic and it would be best if it wasn't messed with. If you had found a copy of it I was going to suggest that you destroy it."

"Is that what you would do if you had a copy?"

"Yes."

"I suppose you would, after all you probably don't need the copy seeing as you know how to cast it."

Gold smiled at her and it made her skin crawl. "So you found your true love," he said. "And which one of the fair citizens of Storybrooke is it? Clearly it's not your former boy toy Robin."

"Who it is, is none of your concern," she said. She wasn't going to let him near Emma.

"It's actually not," he said. "What happened is in the past and the fact the curse is broken now has no affect or meaning on my life."

"Then why did you do it in the first place?"

"Because your mother asked me to."

"No," she said. "We've known each other too long for me to believe that. You don't do things because someone asks you to with the exception of maybe Belle. There was a purpose for you doing it."

"And you served that purpose masterfully, dearie."

She paused. "This was about your curse," she said. "The curse you needed me to cast to bring us here. You knew even then when I a child that I would be the one to do it. Why didn't you get my mother to do it? She was much better at magic than I ever thought of being."

"At the time, I hadn't finished designing the curse. It wasn't ready yet and I knew when it was ready your mother wouldn't be there to cast it. It had to be you. Well, it could have been Zelena as she too was better at magic than you, but she clearly had other flaws. You were the perfect pawn."

"You destroyed my life just to find your son."

"Don't act surprised or even outraged. You made your own choices."

"Did I? Because I remember what you said. My destiny was to be with Daniel. We were going to be married and we would have been free and we would have been happy and you and my mother stole that from me."

"We saved your life. And I didn't even charge you for it. Now if you'll excuse me," he said standing.

"That's it. You are just going to causally admit what you did and just leave?"

"Yes, Madame Mayor, I am. You see, you and I have known each other for a long time, so you know exactly what I am capable of. You try and get revenge on me or target Belle, I will make sure you see another of your true loves die in front of you. Do we have an understanding?"

Regina looked down at her desk. She knew this wasn't a battle she could win. "We have an understanding."

"I am glad to hear it dearie. Cross me and you will watch them die and whoever it is, you better tell them that the same holds true for them if they make a move on me. The thing about love is that it some times makes people do stupid things, like for instance trying to avenge you."

"That won't happen."

"Good."

He left and Regina felt relief that was he was gone, but she was filled with anxiety. Why would Emma go to see him and bring up the curse? She all but put herself in Gold's crosshairs. Regina couldn't let that happen. Belle or not, Gold would kill Emma if he thought she posed some sort of threat.

She couldn't watch another of her true loves die, especially not in front of her. She knew Gold well enough to know that if he followed through on his threat he wouldn't kill her, as it would be more painful to make her live knowing she had lost her true love.

An image of Emma lying dead on the floor in front of her entered her mind.

She felt another panic attack coming on and she got out of her chair and began to pace. Her anxiety was running rampant and knew she needed to get control of her emotions. She wanted to call Emma, to have her rush over and hold her in her arms. She knew if she felt the comfort of Emma's body against hers she would be able to calm down, but she couldn't call Emma. If she did it would let Gold know who her true love is.

She wouldn't let history repeat itself.

She reached for her phone and found Victor's name in it and hit send.

"Regina," he answered.

"I'm having another panic attack," she managed to say.

"Where are you?"

"Office."

"This is what I want you to do, if you aren't already sitting down, sit."

She got back into her chair. "Ok."

"Good, allow yourself to feel that you are sitting be aware of it. This is called grounding Regina, it helps the mind feel like it is in a solid place. Now breathe. Keep taking deep breaths."

"I can't," she said, her breaths having come in short bursts since the attack started.

"Yes you can," he said.

She started to take deeper breaths and Dr. Whale remained silent listening to her breathing. "Now," he said. "Think of something positive, something that gives you strength. It can be a place, a memory, a person, just think of that."

Her mind immediately went to Emma. She thought of Emma kissing her that morning and how good it felt. She thought about Emma hugging her, Emma being there for her. She had her eyes closed and she concentrated on those thoughts.

Regina wasn't sure how much time had passed before Victor spoke again. "Feeling more in control?"

"Yes. Thank you," she said. She could still feel the lingering affects of it, but overall she no longer felt like the panic attack would engulf her.

"Can you come into the hospital now so I can check you out?"

"No, I am fine," she said.

"Regina, we shouldn't be taking any chances."

"I know, but right now I don't think a hospital is the right place for me to be given my level of anxiety."

"I could come by your office later," he offered.

She thought about it a moment. "Ok, but can it be after hours. I don't want my secretary having to worry about anything if she sees you are here for my personal business."

"Won't you have to get home to Henry after work?"

"He's with Emma this weekend."

"Then I will be there say 5:30?"

"Yes, that will be fine. Thank you."

"You are welcome. I will see you later."

She hang up the phone and no sooner did she do that but Emma was calling.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked as soon as she answered.

Regina actually smiled. "I am fine."

"Oh."

"Were you expecting otherwise?"

"No. I don't know. I got one of those feelings like I did when you had that panic attack, a feeling like something was wrong. I was in the middle of breaking up a domestic or I would have called as soon as I felt it. Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yes, I had a small bit of anxiety but it's passed. I am fine."

"What were you getting anxious about and why am I feeling it? I meant to ask you that before?"

"I am not really sure why you are feeling it but it must have something to do with magic – mine or yours, or the both of ours."

"Or because we are true loves?"

Regina could practically see Emma's smile through the phone. "No I am afraid not. You are forgetting your parents are each other's true loves and it's never, to my knowledge, allowed them to feel the other like this, which means it's most likely magical."

"Oh."

"Don't sound so disappointed,"

"I'm not," she said defensively. "You never said what was making you anxious."

"Gold. He stopped by."

"Did he do something to you because if he did…"

"No," Regina said quickly. She knew she had to keep Emma calm when it came to all things Gold. She should have just lied but she couldn't think of anything convincing to say. "He didn't do anything. He was here on city business. It was a short conversation. It was just the first time I had seen him since I remembered so I got a little anxious."

"Do you want me to come over?"

"No. Get on with your day sheriff."

"Are you sure?"

"I am positive. I am fine. It was nothing really. I will see you on Sunday."

"Ok," Emma said although Regina could tell Emma wanted to come and check on her. They said their goodbyes and Regina sat back in her chair wondering what she was going to do. She needed to keep Emma from Gold and the best way to do that would be for Gold just not to know who her true love was. But if she rejected Emma because of Gold, Emma was likely to do something stupid like threaten Gold.

All she knew was that she was willing to do anything to keep Emma safe.

…

Regina was so focused on her work that when 5:30 p.m. came around she was surprised when Dr. Whale knocked on her office door and came in. She had vaguely remembered her secretary saying goodbye before she left.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Good. Much better from earlier."

"Did something happen to set off the panic attack?"

"Nothing major. It's silly looking back at it now."

"I am here, so at least let me play the role of doctor," he said. "Come sit here on the couch and I will take your blood pressure and do a quick once-over."

She sat on the couch and he asked her if she had any water and she pointed to the small fridge. He went over and pulled out a bottle and handed it to her along with two pills.

"What are these?"

"Those are practically nothing – an extremely mild sedative. They won't impair you ability to drive and they won't make you fall asleep. You could almost give those to a baby they are that weak. But you would make me feel better if you took them. Just no sleeping pills tonight on top of them. These will just keep you calm."

She looked at them before opening the bottle and taking both.

He got out his blood pressure gauge and put it on her arm. She felt the cuff tightening but by now she had so many of these taken she was used to it. Once done, he said it was within normal limits. He checked her heart beat with a stethoscope and had her breath in and out several times deeply. He was shining a light in her eyes when she started to feel sleepy.

"Are you sure those were mild sedatives?" she asked.

"Why?"

"I don't know, I am just starting to feel … like I could take a nap."

"Here, lay down for a moment."

She didn't really want to but suddenly felt like even if she didn't her body was going to head in that direction anyway. She was lying down trying to keep her eyes open. "What's that?" she asked, her voice slurring as she saw him with a syringe.

"Just a little something I cooked up especially for you Regina," he said before sticking the needle in her arm and emptying its contents. She was asleep before he had finished the sentence.

Victor looked down at her sleeping form and smiled. The former queen was going to help him complete his life work and when it killed her, he would also have his revenge.


	25. Chapter 25

Emma had felt a weird twinge, similar to what she had felt earlier when Gold had upset Regina. She thought about calling her, but then stopped herself. Regina said she was fine last time and she had promised to keep her distance. She needed to give Regina some space. She was fairly certain when she returned Henry on Sunday that Regina will have seen that Emma wasn't going anywhere and that she couldn't let her fear stop her from them exploring a relationship.

She pushed the odd feeling aside and told herself that Regina was fine.

…

Dr. Whale found getting Regina up to the hospital room he had prepared was even easier than he thought. He had his nurse Lila meet him in the hospital garage with a gurney and they got Regina on it and covered up. From there no one questioned them as Lila pushed the gurney through the hospital and into an elevator with him.

They got her into the room and immediately hooked her up to an IV that would feed a powerful sedative into her to keep her unconscious. He didn't need her awake for what he had planned at least not at the beginning.

He had already given her an injection of the Skiver Virus. It should be enough to produce symptoms in a short amount of time. From there they would just have to wait for her to enter the hallucination phase. And as an extra precaution she was hooked up to a modified defibrillator that would keep a small a small electrical charge going through her body that would keep her from being able to use magic.

He knew his plan wasn't foolproof. Eventually someone would discover that Regina was missing and given her popularity among many of the residents now there would be plenty of people willing to look for her.

There was no reason for them to suspect she was there, but Whale wasn't going to take chances either which is why she was hidden away here and if he thought there was a chance this place would be compromised he had a back up plan.

…

Emma felt odd all weekend. She couldn't explain why, but things just felt off. She kept shrugging it off as nerves over seeing Regina today and talking to her. She hoped Regina had taken this time to see that they could do this – they could have a relationship and she could set aside this irrational fear.

She was sure after speaking with her on Friday that Regina was scared of Rumple. She had sensed the fear in her. It didn't fit. Regina would never back down from Gold. Those two seemed to pride themselves on being able to face the other, but ever since Regina had remembered Rumple's part in changing her destiny she was flat out afraid of him.

Emma guessed it was like reliving a childhood trauma. The monster from under the bed was suddenly real to Regina and unlike her; he didn't fear her in the least. She had lost any edge she had.

She had Henry text Regina an hour ago to see if she wanted them to bring dinner with them, but she hadn't texted back. Henry said she was probably busy as she tended to city business on Sunday nights "in order to start the week off right."

Emma said if they needed dinner she could run back out and get some.

They got to the house and Emma was immediately set on edge by the lack of any visible lights being on. She got out of the car with Henry and walked up to the door. Henry had the key, but Emma rang the doorbell. No answer. She didn't bother ringing again as she told Henry to unlock it. They entered and Emma's heart was racing. There were no lights in the house, no sounds.

Emma knew something was wrong even as she called out Regina's name. They searched the entire house – she wasn't there. She called Regina's phone but there was no answer.

…

Emma sat at her desk almost falling asleep. She had been up for two days straight looking for Regina. They had found her phone and car still at the office. Her secretary appeared to have been the last person to see her and that was on Friday. No one had seen her since.

She had called Tink almost immediately thinking Regina might be with her, but that wasn't the case. Tink was actually watching Henry for her so she could devote time to finding Regina.

She was cursing herself for not following up with Regina when she had felt odd Friday. It hadn't been that long after the secretary had left Regina at the office. She had been feeling a connection with Regina but now she couldn't and it was driving her crazy.

She had to find her. They had searched for any clues of her leaving the office but there weren't any. No one had said they had seen her or seen anyone around the office on Friday afternoon.

Her parents, whom she hadn't even told about the whole true love thing, had suggested that maybe Regina had left town. She dismissed that idea immediately as her car was still her, and Emma knew Regina would never leave Henry like that. No, Regina was still in the town, she just needed to figure out where.

While there were no signs of it, this had foul play written all over it. And her number one suspect was Mr. Gold.

She knew Gold was one of the last to see her and he had upset her even though Regina said he was there only for city business. Emma had learned otherwise when she confronted him.

_"Where is she?" Emma had asked as she entered the shop._

_"Where is she, who?" he responded._

_"Regina."_

_"I have no idea where our esteemed mayor is."_

_"What's going on?" Belle asked._

_"Regina is missing."_

_"And you think I had something to do with it?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Sorry sheriff, but I am afraid you will have to look elsewhere for your villain."_

_"You were one of the last people to see her on Friday and she told me that you upset her."_

_"Regina and I have a long complicated history."_

_"Yes, starting with you cursing her in order to take away her destiny."_

_He considered her a moment. "She told you about that?"_

_"She did."_

_"Then let me tell you what I told her on Friday. I have no reason to go after Regina provided she leaves me and Belle alone. But the moment she does all bets are off. Regina has not done anything to me or Belle so I have no reason to do anything to her. Now I am gathering from your reaction that this goes a little beyond your sheriff duties," he said. "Am I right?"_

_"If I find out you had anything to do with her disappearance …"_

_"You'll do nothing because you can't do anything Sheriff Swan. Your magic is nothing to me, even less than Regina's magic. Now leave while I am still in a good mood. Perhaps you can find your true love if you stop wasting your time here."_

_"This isn't over."_

_"Yes I am afraid it is."_

_Emma turned and stormed out but Belle caught up to her at the corner._

_"Emma, I don't know what is going on, but I assure you he has nothing to do with it."_

_"For your sake I hope so."_

_"What he said in there about true love …"_

_"She and I only just found out. I haven't even told my parents yet so I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything. We kissed and it broke a curse, a curse that your husband and Cora placed on Regina when she was a child. It altered her destiny and led her on the path to being the Evil Queen. I don't know why he did it, although I have a pretty good guess. He manipulated Regina every step of the way. But I meant what I said in there, if he has done anything with her I will end him."_

_"He didn't, I swear Emma he hasn't done anything with her."_

Emma was still skeptical though. They had searched the town with the help of volunteers – many of whom were the parents of the children Regina had saved. Ruby and Robin led teams into the forest but they came up empty as well.

She had tried concentrating, hoping she could feel Regina again, but nothing worked. Regina had said their connection had to be magical, but Emma was at a loss as to how to activate it or boost it or do anything.

She knew only one thing – she needed Regina to be ok.

…

Whale checked Regina's vital signs. Even asleep she had continued along the phases of the disease and was now based on her unconscious movements feeling the chills. They had her deeply sedated but it hadn't prevented her from moving around or even crying out occasionally. But there had been no detectable sign of magic which meant the low level current they were running through her was working.

She would be hallucinating soon and that is when his real work could begin.

He had spent all his spare time up there with her taking readings and preparing for the hallucinations. But he had other patients to see and had even volunteered to go on one of the searches in the forest looking for the missing mayor. He needed to make people see there was no reason to suspect him. He was merely worried about a patient – a budding friend. Still he had avoided Emma as much as possible.

She knew Regina had called him because of her phone records and he had told her the truth – Regina was having a panic attack and called him. She questioned him about the panic attack and when it happened and seemed sad that Regina had called him about it. But she hadn't asked him any questions that would suggest she believed he had anything to do with it.

All in all he felt things were quite going his way.

Lila had been nervous about the whole thing, but he had reassured her as well. She wanted revenge against Regina and that was her only motivation. She was more interested in that than the science that he was trying to explore. But Whale was totally focused. He needed to see the scans of Regina's brain in the midst of the hallucinations. His only concern was that he would have to keep her sedated during the MRI and during it he couldn't run the electrical current through her. Still he figured the sedation wouldn't skew the scans too much and since she would be tightly secured the entire time her magic wouldn't be an issue.

He wondered not for the first time what she hallucinated about. During her original illness she would mutter things but it wasn't clear. He could only imagine with the life she led that her mind would have plenty of fodder to throw back at her.

And he got a front row seat to watch.


	26. Chapter 26

Whale watched the monitor as the MRI continued to scan Regina's brain. He had her put in the machine early – before the hallucinations began. He needed to see the moment they took hold in her brain and began firing off her synapses. If he could see which parts of her brain activated first and in what pattern it could be key to unlocking his research.

His only regret with this was not being able to scientifically study her magic and how it interacted with her body's cells, but he couldn't risk her using it to get free.

As it was he was a little nervous about not being able to run the electric current through her during the MRI but she was practically in a coma with how much sedation she was under.

While there hadn't been any hallucinations yet, there had been some spiking of brain activity similar to what he had observed in her last couple MRIs, but not nearly to that scale.

He had to get back downstairs to make his rounds but Lila, who had recruited a couple of other loyal staff members with a grudge against the former queen, was under orders to get him as soon as the hallucinations started.

…

Emma knew she needed to get more sleep, but as long as Regina was missing she couldn't. She had grabbed a few hours last night but even now she felt like she could fall asleep standing up. Her whole body felt weird like it was heavy with sleep.

Regina had now been missing a week and she was no closer to figuring out where she was and it was driving her insane.

The only person she even believed capable of making Regina disappear so effectively was Gold, but she had nothing to go on there. Henry was looking to her find Regina and she felt like she was letting him down yet again.

A couple of days ago she thought she had been coming down with the flu as she felt achy and chilly, but it seemed to pass. Her not getting sick was the one thing that seemed to go right.

She stood up from her desk to get a coffee and again felt a wave of sleepiness engulf her. She shook it off and went in search of caffeine.

As Emma poured a cup of coffee she thought she saw someone at the edge of her peripheral vision. She turned so fast she almost dropped her cup but there was no one there. Still she stood there a moment. Once she no longer felt like there was someone there she walked back to her office but as she neared it, it happened again except this time she saw it – him clearer. It was an older guy, dressed like he was from the Enchanted Forest. He was wearing what she assumed was nice clothes for that world – but he looked sad.

It was only a glimpse of him but he was there for that second.

This time she put her cup down on her desk, grabbed her jacket and left.

…

Regina walked through her castle. It was completely empty and she felt like she had been wandering through if for days. Her mind told her she was looking for something or someone but she couldn't seem to remember what.

She entered the throne room and saw a man standing next to it holding a crown – her crown.

"Father?" she said as she moved closer. "Is that you?"

Once she was sure it was him, she threw herself into his arms, hugging him. "I've missed you," she said.

"I've missed you too," he said before they pulled apart.

She looked down at the crown he was still holding in his hand and then looked around the room. "What is going on? Where is everyone?" she asked.

She realized she didn't know what was happening. She looked down at herself – she was wearing the same clothes she had been the day she met Snow White. Snow, she thought, closing her eyes – images flooded through her mind.

"Storybrooke," she said as she opened them. "Why am I here, I should be in Storybrooke." She backed away from him. "And you should be …"

"Dead," he said bluntly. "I know. I know this is confusing for you my daughter."

"I don't understand," she said moving backward more, but he stepped forward.

"I kept your crown safe for you," he said holding it out to her.

"I don't want it. I never wanted it."

"I know," he said looking sad. "I know you didn't want this life."

"Then why? Why did you let her do this to me? Why didn't you stop her? You never stopped her."

Henry stepped back looking even sadder and Regina felt bad for her accusatory words.

"Please," he said. "Come sit with me Regina."

They sat down on the steps leading up to the throne. He put the crown down and took one of her hands in his. "I should have done more."

"No," she said. "This isn't your fault. Without you my entire childhood and when all of this happened – me being queen, I couldn't have made it through without you."

"Yes, but you shouldn't have had to deal with it all."

"You knew?" she asked. "Did you know what mother did to me?"

"Not at first, but yes, she told me not longer after."

She turned away from him, willing herself not to cry.

"Regina, I am sorry. You were … you had the fever and children they don't survive usually. I couldn't lose you so yes when your mother returned with Rumpelstiltskin I let them do whatever it took to save you. After that it was difficult for me to stand in her way. I let them do that to you because I couldn't bear to lose my little girl. All of the rest of it, what happened it was just as much my fault as your mother's."

"No!" she said standing. "It wasn't your fault. Your intentions were good; you only wanted to save me. But she …"

Her mind flashed again, this time she thought she saw white – maybe the inside of something that curved. She lost the ability to hear for a moment and felt tired suddenly. Her father put a steadying hand on her and guided her back down.

By the time she had regained her senses, she realized he had put the crown in her hands.

"I don't want this," she said. "Why do you even have it?"

"Things are going to happen to you my daughter – you are standing a crossroads, very much like I was when you got sick. I chose the path that saved your life but led you on to a destiny you never wanted. When you decided to cast your curse, you needed my heart to do it and I gave it freely because I needed to give you the chance to change your destiny into something you wanted. I helped steal your destiny, it was the least I could do. Now it's up to you to decide what you want in life."

"It's not this," she said holding up the crown.

"Then get rid of it."

She smiled at him and then threw it as far as she could across the room. It bounced and skidded down the floor before coming to a stop under a foot. She stood looked at her father, but he was gone.

The figure bent down, picked up the crown and began walking toward her.

"Honestly, if I had let him have his way, you wouldn't have amounted to anything," Cora said.

…

Emma had called her parents to meet her at Granny's and Tink brought Henry over. She entered and they were already there with Ruby and Granny.

"Regina isn't just missing, she is sick again," Emma blurted out as soon as she entered.

"The Skiver Fever again?" Tink asked.

"Yes, I don't know why it took me this long to figure it out. I have felt odd for days, but I thought it was because I was overly tired or coming down with the flu. Then I was at the station and I kept seeing something, and that was when I realized it wasn't me – it was Regina. The same thing happened the first time she was sick."

"What do you mean the same thing happened the first time she was sick?" Charming asked.

Emma realized then that she hadn't told her parents about her connection to Regina. No one knew besides Tink. She saw all these faces staring at her and she wasn't even sure how to start to explain it. She looked at Tink who was clearly waiting for her to say that she and Regina were true loves. But this wasn't a step Emma had really thought about it.

"Um, you see when Regina got sick the first time, I um …"

"Regina's light magic went off when she was in the hospital," Tink said. "She was unconscious or close enough to it that she didn't know she was doing it and somehow it connected with Emma's magic and well Emma began to have small feelings of things which were in fact what Regina was experiencing, isn't that right?"

Emma gave her a grateful look, "Yes. When she started to hallucinate the first time I kept seeing things like people in my peripheral vision. They were just quick glimpses. It happened again at the station today. I saw a man who was dressed in clothes like in the Enchanted Forest."

"What did he look like?" Granny asked.

She gave a quick description.

"That is Regina's father," Snow said.

"See, it has to be her. She is sick again."

"If it is mom and she is hallucinating it means this is the next to the last stage," Henry said.

"We're going to find her," Emma said, although she was still unsure how they were going to find her.

"How does any of this help us find her?" Charming asked. "If you can sense things she is sensing, does that mean you can sense where she is at?"

"I don't think so," Emma said. "It's not like I have control over it."

"Have you tried, to control it I mean?" Tink asked.

Emma shook her head. The thought hadn't occurred to her that she could somehow control it. She had been so excited at figuring out that Regina was at least alive that she hadn't really thought about how her connection with her could be helpful in finding her. She wasn't very adept at her magic. It wasn't something she wanted to rely on too much.

She finally took a seat at one of the tables feeling weary. Her adrenaline was wearing off.

She looked at Henry knowing he was relying on her to find his mom.

"I can try," Emma said finally.

…

Whale had the computer recording all of the MRI readings. Regina brain was lighting up like a Christmas tree. It had started at the brain stem and began to branch out and up. He considered the significance of this. It suggested that there was a connection to her central nervous system yet the spinal tap he had performed on her when she was originally sick hadn't turned up anything unusual. He may have to do another and of course when she was dead he could perform an invasive autopsy. He could literally open up her spine to see if there was anything to discover.

He thought it odd that the two most concentrated areas of the brain that appeared to be active were those associated with memory and with dreams. The dreams made sense because she was hallucinating, but he wondered about the memory. He conjectured that if a brain could be used to reanimate a person that memory would be a key component – they would need to remember they were human and not a monster.

He was tempted to give her the cure now and perform a spinal tap, then infect her again for another round of tests.

But he wanted it go on longer, at least until she suffered through a few broken bones.

….

"Mother," Regina said standing. Cora had always insisted on Regina rising when she entered a room out of respect her mother had said. It was a habit that came back to her suddenly seeing her mom walking toward her.

"Your crown," Cora said holding it out to her.

"I don't want it," Regina said.

"You will take it. After all I did for you to get it, you will be grateful," she said, still holding it out.

"No," Regina said backing up.

Cora smiled at her and sat the crown down on the throne for the moment. She stepped closer to Regina, who wanted nothing more than to run from this room.

"Come here my daughter," Cora said holding out her hand this time.

She didn't want to take it, but she also didn't want her mother thinking she was afraid to so she took it. Her mother sat down with her much like she had with her father moments before.

"Regina, you were born to be queen, you know that right?"

"It's not what I want."  
"Sometimes we don't get to do what we want. Sometimes we do the things we have to do."

"I don't have to do this," Regina said.

"It's your destiny."

Regina stood and backed away from her. "No. It isn't my destiny, or at least it wasn't supposed to be. You let that monster Rumpelstiltskin do this to me, why? I was a child, how could you? Did you ever once look at me and think there is my daughter, not there is this tool I can use to get what I want?"

"You were a child who was dying," Cora said. "If I hadn't have interceded you would have died."

"You don't know that. I could have been one of the kids who survived."

This time Cora turned from her. "You wouldn't have," she said softly. "You would have died Regina and that is the truth of the matter. What was I supposed to do? Should I have sat there with your father and watched as your bones broke? Should I have ignored your screams as the pain became too much for your small body? Tell me since you are such a good mother, what would you have done if that were Henry?"

Regina didn't have an answer and her mother knew it. She knew that Regina would have done anything to save Henry, even if it meant making a deal with Rumpelstiltskin.

"You killed Daniel," she said. It wasn't what she had meant to say exactly. But then there it was out there between them. "I loved him mom. I loved him so much and he was my true love but you couldn't let me have that could you?"

"If you had been allowed to remain on that path, you would have run off with Daniel and you wouldn't have done anything remarkable in your life. Love is meaningless when you have power."

"I didn't want the power! That was your dream, not mine. You helped shape me into this … this thing that … I killed people, I tortured them, I destroyed lives, is that what you really wanted for me?"

"I wanted you to have power. Remember, you are the one who chose what to do with it. I wasn't even around thanks to you."

...

Everyone was trying to be quiet around her, but Emma could still hear them as she closed her eyes. She thought about what Regina had taught her about her magic and about concentrating and using her emotions. But her mind was filled with doubt. If this didn't work she didn't know what to try next. They had discussed options before deciding it wouldn't hurt for Emma to try to locate Regina with her magic.

The truth was Regina being sick didn't really help tell them where she was.

She thought about that night she found Regina in the stables. She realized now that the feeling she should go there was most likely because of her magical connection with Regina. So why hadn't she felt any overwhelming urge to go someplace this time? Why wasn't Regina's magic calling out to her? She was sure it had been Regina's magic, not hers. Now she wondered if she could get her magic to work that way.

She knew the doubt she was feeling was only going to make it harder. Instead she tried to push it down deep in side her and instead concentrate on Regina. She thought about the first time she met her, and how despite the friction between them she found she was physically attracted to her. Her mind fast forwarded to Regina in the mine with the failsafe device and how she was prepared to make that sacrifice. Then on to Neverland and her never wavering concern and love for Henry which showed Emma how big Regina's heart truly was.

Emma thought about that night in the stables and how it felt when Regina's lips touched hers. It wasn't like anything Emma had experienced before. Even when her love for Henry had broken the curse that was another kind of love. That moment in the stables she knew that not only had their souls touched, a part of Regina was forever stamped upon her inner being.

She concentrated on it and felt the magic flow through her body. She kept her eyes closed, willing her magic to travel out of her and seek out the part of her own soul she had left with Regina.

…

"You had to right no choose my destiny for me," Regina challenged her mother.

"The destiny I chose was much better than the one you would have had for yourself if I had left it alone. Like I said, you should be grateful," Cora said and she retrieved the crown from where she left it. She again held it out for Regina. "Take your crown. Take your throne."

"Never," Regina said. She was about to say more, but she felt something. She looked around the room as if expecting there to be someone else there. She walked past her mother, completely ignoring her, and continued to look. There was someone there, she knew it, she felt it and it felt familiar but she was having trouble figuring out why.

There was definitely a presence nearby.

She looked around one more time hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever it was, but there was no one there – at least not physically.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around expecting to finally catch that person, but instead it was her mother.

"We're not done yet," Cora said.

"Yes we are," she said using her magic to push her mother away from her. She spun around and headed to the door. Maybe the presence wasn't in this room, she thought, maybe if she looked harder she could find it. Something inside her was screaming that she needed to find it – find her. For she could feel that it was a woman, but her mind wasn't able to process anything more than that. She felt odd and as she left the room, she found she was standing instead in a street.

Regina looked all around trying to figure out what was happening. The buildings, the clock tower, she knew this place. Yes, she thought, this is Storybrooke.

She rubbed her temples trying to will her mind to start working right. There was something wrong about all of this.

She began walking hoping she could find this woman.

She neared the park and saw Henry taking practice swings with his baseball bat. She smiled thinking how Henry had wanted to play summer baseball. Regina looked over and saw who was throwing the pitches.

It was Emma.

She continued to watch as Emma worked with Henry on his technique until he was consistently hitting the ball. She never made a move to get closer to either of them, and neither of them acknowledged her presence.

"They are happy," a voice said behind and her said "yes," not looking to see who it was, but then a limping figure with a cane stood beside her.

"You know I can't let you join them," Gold said to her.  
"Why not?"

"Think Regina."

She had been trying to think but found it difficult. She felt like her brain was stuck in pudding and there was no way to clean it all off to get a clear thought going.

"That is where I belong," she said taking a step toward Henry and Emma, ready to call out to them. But Gold grabbed her arm.

"I am sorry my dearie, but your destiny belongs to me. Your mother gave it to me. And until the day you die it will belong to me."

She tore free from him. "My destiny is my own. I made no deal with you concerning it and you will not keep me from it again."

"I will. You can't stop me Regina. You've never had it in you to stop me. You are nothing more than a puppet I use whenever it pleases me. Even now I can tell you are getting angry. Anger is good. Anger fuels your magic better than any emotion out there. Give into it Regina."

She was angry, angry at him most of all. There was a fireball in her hand before she even realized she had done the magic. She stared at it a moment, the concentrated flame writhing in her hand, begging to be released. It would be so easy to do it too. It was always easy.

She looked up though at Henry and Emma. They had gathered up their stuff and were walking out of the park. Emma had her arm around Henry as they made their way farther from Regina. As she saw this, Regina extinguished the flame and looked at Gold.

"You won't stop me," she said. This time she let her light magic envelop her, so that Gold knew she wasn't without protection from him.

Then she turned and left, walking off to find Emma and Henry once more.

…

Whale and his staff were caught off guard when they saw the white magic envelop Regina's hand. It didn't appear to be doing anything but there it was. The light got brighter and then disappeared entirely. As it did, Regina gasped and opened her eyes.

"Get in there and sedate her," he ordered Lila. His nurse ran in there as Regina was trying to sit up but the straps kept her down.

"No," Regina said as Lila made ready to inject her. She struggled more, but in the end she got the needle into Regina's arm and several moments passed as the sedative took hold in her.

She raised her head up, and if was possible, Whale would have said she looked right at him even though they weren't in the same room. Regina's eyes closed though and her head collapsed back down.

He was going to have to put her back in the room and get the electric current going through her again to prevent more magic. He didn't know what if anything that light magic had done, but he couldn't take any chances.

…

Inside Granny's diner Emma had continued to sit there. She was feeling Regina. Her true love was somewhere not too far away. She felt Regina's confusion, her uncertainty, her fear and her anger. She wanted to be able to wrap her arms around her and tell her it was all going to be ok. She tried to convey the thought to Regina that she was nearby and she was going to find her, but she couldn't tell if Regina was getting the message.

Emma couldn't see anything.

But she could feel. She felt like she – no Regina was lying down in a way she couldn't get up. Regina was tired and yes sick. Her body ached and mind felt like it was in turmoil. Her hearing was muted like something was blocking her ears. She could make out the faint sound of something that sounded maybe like a machine.

Emma couldn't do anything to help her and she felt her own despair sinking in and felt like she was losing the connection. She concentrated harder and then it happened – she felt Regina's magic surge. All her senses became clear suddenly and then she didn't know what happened but she thought maybe Regina opened her eyes because Emma could now see – rather she could see what Regina was seeing. It lasted only two second.

Emma opened her eyes with a gasp.

"Did it work?" Henry asked.

Emma felt disoriented for a moment, and then focused.

"Yes," she said. "I know where she is at."


	27. Chapter 27

Emma and her father came through the door of the hospital, Emma going straight to the nurses' desk. "Get Dr. Whale down here now."

She was sure what she saw through Regina's eyes was the hospital. In those two seconds of vision she was sure Regina was looking at a hospital room. She knew it even though she could no longer feel the connection with her true love.

They waited by the desk, Emma pacing. Her father had tried unsuccessfully to get her to calm down. Dr. Whale came through the elevator doors and Emma ran up to him, grabbing him and slamming him into the wall. "Where is she?'

Whale looked over at Charming, "What is this about?"

After pulling Emma away from him, Charming faced Whale. "We have reason to believe Regina is here and that she is sick."

"I assure you, she is not," he said straightening his clothes from where Emma manhandled him. "Unless someone found her and brought her in without my knowledge. We can check with the nurses, but I hardly see where that gives you the right to assault me sheriff."

"I am going to do more than assault you," she said but her father kept her from getting any closer to him.

Whale walked up to the nurses' desk and asked them to do a search to make sure no one had brought Regina in. No one had.

"See," Whale said.

"Not good enough," Emma said. "I want this place searched."

"Do you have a warrant?"

"No, but I can get one."

"You know what, never mind the warrant, look around all you want, but if I find you are disturbing any of my patients I will have security throw you out."

He walked away and Emma wanted to go after him but Charming stopped her.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked.

"He's lying. She is here."

"Do you know he is lying because of your gift?"

"No. I didn't pick up that he was lying like that, but I know he is. I know what I saw."

"I believe you. But it's possible you didn't see what you think you saw, or that if she is here, Dr. Whale has nothing to do with it. Now where do you want to start?"

"Let's start upstairs. He took the elevator down and when she was a patient here, he had her in some room up there."

They went from room to room – taking forever. Emma stayed in only one room for more than the time it took to search it and that was the MRI machine room. She pulled a gurney over to it and laid down.

"What are you doing?"

She had her eyes closed and then opened them quickly and sat up a moment. "This what I saw through her eyes," she said. "Right here. She was right here. It all matches up."

"Ok, but she isn't here now and we haven't found her yet."

Emma was worried they would be too late when they did find her. She couldn't keep the thought out of her head of why Regina didn't heal herself if she was sick. She had light magic – she had used it on the kids, why didn't she use it on herself?

They continued their search but found no trace of Regina inside the hospital. No one they had asked had said they had seen her. She went to Dr. Whale's office and put her fists down on his desk leaning over it, "When I find her, and if I find out you had anything to do with this I will destroy you."

"I think it is well past time for you to leave the premises," he said.

Charming pulled her back from the desk and escorted her out. "Come on, she isn't here."

Emma punched the wall before exiting the building. She got to the car, where her mother and Henry were waiting. "Anything?" she asked them as she and Charming got in.

"Nothing out of the ordinary out here," Snow said. "An ambulance left without its lights on and Ruby and Tink followed it, but Ruby called in to say that it was merely going to the funeral home."

"Damn it," Emma said slamming her palms down on the steering wheel. "Why can't I feel her anymore?"

"Honey," Snow said. "Maybe you should tell us what this is all about."

"It's about finding Regina."

"We understand that," Charming said. "But forgive us if we feel like there is something you aren't telling us."

Emma sighed and leaned back against the head rest, closing her eyes. She concentrated again – trying to feel Regina. Nothing.

She opened her eyes back up. "Regina is my true love."

"What?" her parents said in unison. Emma looked back at Henry who had a smile on his face and she couldn't help but smile back. This time she told them the entire story.

…

Regina woke to darkness. She moved – or rather tried to but found her arms were hitting something padded only an inch or so from her. She felt it – padding, covered in something – silk maybe. She felt it several inches above her as well. There was as sound like a hiss – and she recognized it as one of those time lapse medication pumps like she had in the hospital. As sleep claimed her again, she knew it was a sedative that had been released.

…

Emma came into Granny's diner two mornings later and put a newspaper down on the counter in front of Ruby. "Tell me again about that ambulance the other night."

"Um, it was an ambulance that left the hospital. It sent to Loughman & Sons Funeral Parlor and unloaded a body there."

"Exactly, so why aren't there any obituaries in the paper?" she said opening it to inside page where obits were normally listed. "Who died? Have you heard of anyone dying?"

"No, now that you mention it I haven't."

"You don't think that was Regina's body do you?"

"No. She isn't dead. She can't be. I would know if she was dead."

"Then what are you thinking?"

"I am thinking a funeral home is the last place I would look for a missing person."

"Hold on, you can't just burst into a funeral home. Old man Loughman is a good guy. You can't go in there and accuse him of hiding Regina away."

"Watch me."

"Alright, but I am going with you."

She tore off her apron and handed it to Granny who gave her blessing for going, telling Ruby to keep an eye on Emma and not let her do anything stupid. Ruby was beginning to think that was easier said than done.

They arrived at the funeral parlor and Emma went in and immediately began opening up display coffins. Yes, Ruby thought, much easier said than done.

Loughman Sr. came out. "Can I help you ladies with something?"

"Um we were just looking at your um caskets," Ruby said as Emma finished off one row and moved to the next.

"I can show many models," he said looking at Emma strangely.

There were only two unopened ones left and she quickly opened those before joining Ruby in front of the owner. "Where are the rest of the coffins?"

"We have another showroom through that door and of course a catalog for special orders. Perhaps if you can tell what kind you are looking for I can assist."

"I am looking for one with a person inside."

"Excuse me," he said. "I am not sure what kind of place you think this is, but I assure none of our display coffins has a person in it."

"Please excuse our sheriff," Ruby said as Emma disappeared into the other showroom. Ruby blocked Loughman from following. "I saw an ambulance stop here the other night and they unloaded someone but there have been no reported deaths in the newspaper and we haven't heard of anyone dying."

"An ambulance? We don't take deliveries. My boys handle all the pick ups," he said.

"It looked like they were unloading in the back, what's back there?"

"That is where we handle the embalming and other preservation techniques."

"Do you mind if we take a look?"

"Only if you tell me what this is about."

Emma came back into the room, "Mayor Mills is missing."

"I am aware."

"We have reason to believe she might be here," Ruby said even though she felt more than a little stupid saying it.

"If she were here I am fairly certain I would know it. Believe me she isn't here."

"Would you let us look, please," Ruby said.

"This way."

He led them into the back and Ruby's senses were assaulted by the smell of the embalming solution. Loughman's two sons were back there playing cards – one sitting on top of a casket.

"Ryan how many times do I have to tell you not to sit there," Loughman said. "I don't care if it is broken or not, you don't sit on them."

"Sorry father," he said standing. "What's going on?"

"These ladies are going to take a look around."

"Why?" Ryan asked, and his brother, Tommy, whom Ruby had actually gone on a few dates with, joined him.

"I will explain later. Just let them look."

Emma started on the right side where there were metal drawers for storing bodies. Being a small town there were only five of them. They were all empty. She made her way over to the casket that Ryan was sitting on and Tommy stopped her. "Maybe we could help if you let us know what you are looking for."

Ruby immediately went on high alert and came around the other side, but Ryan stepped in front of her.

"Out of the way," Emma said staring down Tommy.

"Boys, get out of the way," Loughman said, but neither of them moved. "Ryan, Tommy, let them pass." This time he came up to them, but again neither moved. Loughman went up to the casket.

"I don't know why my sons are acting disrespectful but again I assure you that there is no way there is a body here without my knowledge. See."

He opened the casket and Emma pushed Tommy aside. "Regina!" she said coming up to the coffin where Regina lay inside.

Loughman backed away from it in shock. He looked at his sons, "What have you done?"

"Nothing," Ryan said. "She's alive."

Emma was shaking Regina trying to get her to wake up. She saw the IV in her arm and pulled it out along with the electrodes that were on her temples. Ruby unlatched the bottom of the casket and Emma picked Regina up and out of it, placing her on the embalming table.

"Regina, wake up," Emma said. "I need you to wake and open your eyes."

She shook Regina again, rougher this time but still no reaction.

Loughman grabbed Ryan, "What did you do?"

"Nothing," he said.

"Then why is the mayor in one of our coffins?" he yelled.

Tommy pulled them apart. "Lila, it was Lila. She asked Ryan to let her hide the mayor here a couple of days."

"Why would you agree to something like that?"

"She killed Lila's brother," Ryan yelled. "She killed a lot of people. Why should she get to be mayor and keep on breathing?"

Loughman looked at Emma and Ruby. "Get her to the hospital," he said to them. "I will deal with this."

Emma lifted Regina up and Ruby held the door to the outside open for her. They got to Emma's car and Ruby got in the driver's seat while Emma held Regina in the back seat.

Emma felt like déjà vu as she carried Regina into the hospital. This time she refused to leave her side however, flashing her badge at one of the nurses and letting her know she wasn't leaving. A moment later a doctor – not Whale came in – and started examining Regina.

"She has the Skiver Fever again," Emma said. "She needs that antidote that Whale was working on."

The doctor looked at her a moment and went back to examining her, but only after telling a nurse to get Whale. Emma waited against the wall. She wasn't going to let Whale touch Regina of that she was certain. They put an IV line into Regina and Emma was worried they were trying to keep her sedated, but the doctor said it was only for the pain as he explained that Regina's wrist was broken.

Whale entered and Emma went right at him, pushing him against the wall. "Your nurse Lila, where is she?"

"I don't know. She isn't due on shift until tonight," he said. "Let go of me so I can attend to Regina."

"No. That is as close you get," she said.

"Sheriff Swan, let him go," the other doctor said.

"No. He was involved in this," she said.

"Even if he was, if she has this fever again, he is the only one who knows how to deal with it."

Emma let go, but then punched him in the nose. She felt the crack of the bone as Whale cried out in pain. She grabbed a hold of him and dragged him over to the bed. "You tell this other doctor how to cure her," she said. "But you even think about touching her and I will tear your arm off."

She brought his arm behind his back and applied pressure.

"Sheriff!" the doctor said and then told the nurse to get security.

"Tell him what he needs to do know," Emma said applying pressure again. "Where is the antidote?"

Whale didn't say anything and Emma yanked his arm again, this time hard enough that she didn't stop until she heard it pop. Whale dropped to his knees from the pain and security came in. Emma pulled out her badge. "He is under arrest," she said, pulling him to his feet and cuffing him. "Now tell him where the antidote is."

"I would rather she died," he said.

Emma pushed back to the wall, slamming him against it face first. "Tell me where the antidote is."

"Never."

Emma brought her leg up and jammed her foot into the back of his knee forcing him to the ground. The two security guards grabbed her before she could do anything else. Whale tried to slip out the door, but her father was there with Ruby and grabbed him.

They all heard the sound of bone breaking and looked at Regina. She had woken up even though something had clearly snapped. Emma broke free from the guards and rushed to the table taking Regina's hand in hers.

She didn't know what to do so she leaned over and kissed her. Nothing happened. She wasn't under a curse any longer, she was just sick. She looked at Whale, "Please, tell me where the antidote is."

He stared back at her and she knew he wasn't going to say.

"Regina, come on baby wake up. Come on wake up. Wake up and tell me what I am supposed to do. Tell me how to cure you with magic. Please Regina, just open your eyes."

She started to cry. She couldn't have come this far for Regina to die now. She couldn't let it happen. She loved her too much.

Emma thought about that love and she felt her magic flow through her body and she directed it outward into Regina. She felt the magic enter Regina and move along into her blood, into her very cells and connect up with Regina's own magic. That was the moment Regina opened her eyes.

Emma started to laugh even as she was crying. She bent down and kissed Regina before the other woman could even react.

Regina tried to move but felt a sharp pain. "I think I broke a rib," she said.

Emma just smiled.


	28. Chapter 28

Regina entered the sheriff's station, going directly to Emma's office. Emma got to her feet immediately.

"What are you doing here?" Emma said. "You should be resting."

Regina waved her off from coming closer and took a seat. "I have had my fair share of resting," she said. "I am tired from resting. I am feeling fine – even with this," she said holding up her wrist which was now in a cast from where it had broken.

"So does that mean you came here to visit?" Emma smiled.

"Not with you," she said. "I want to speak to him."

"Absolutely not."

"He is entitled to visitors I believe, and I want to speak to him."

"In my mind he isn't entitled to anything."

"I understand why you feel that way, but Emma I need to do this."

Emma looked down at her desk finally shaking her head. "I think you should go home and rest. If you have some desire to face him let it be in court."

"Emma …"

"Regina, he was going to let you die!"

"I know which is why I need to speak to him. There are things I want to say to him."

"Like what? What could you possibly have to say to him?"

"The same thing I would like to say to all of them – all of the others who helped him – and that is that I forgive him."

"What!" this time Emma did get up and come around the desk to face Regina. "How can you even consider forgiving him? He was experimenting on you. He made you sick again. He admitted that he would have done it over and over again given the chance all in the name of research. What he did was unforgivable."

"No it isn't. Things I have done are unforgivable yet people have forgiven me. Your mother, your father, people in this town, even you have forgiven me for things I have done. Whether you like it or not, I do understand Victor. I know what it is like to turn blinders on to everything else in pursuit of a goal you believe to be just. I need to forgive him for this so I don't fall back into the trap of being the woman who would do anything for vengeance."

"You aren't that person anymore."

"And perhaps I was never meant to be," she said looking away. Emma knelt down in front of her, putting a hand on Regina's knee.

"I know all of this has been more than a little crazy, and if you really want to speak to him, you know I am going to let you, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Thank you."

"Oh, don't think I won't be standing there right beside you when you speak to him," she said standing. "Wait here, I will bring him to one of the interview rooms."

Regina stayed there as Emma left thinking about how things had changed so much in such a short amount of time. She could still feel where Emma had put a hand on her. When she had woken in the hospital Emma had been there at her bedside with Henry. She had smiled at both of them, especially when Henry asked if Emma was going to be moving in with them. Regina had laughed but she knew there were serious topics that Emma and her would need to talk about. It was clear from Henry's remark that others now knew that Emma and she were true loves.

When Emma leaned over and kissed her she thought about how right it felt.

Emma explained to her what she had pieced together about Regina's disappearance, her illness, and then she seemed uncomfortable discussing how she had tried finding Regina – using their connection. There was still a lot Emma didn't know about magic, but even Regina didn't have a definitive explanation for why her magic was now intertwined with Emma's.

And while Emma hadn't moved in, there hadn't been a day that they hadn't seen each other – mostly Emma coming over to her place as she continued to insist that Regina needed to take it easy.

She continued her musings until Emma came and got her. She asked Regina one last time if she was sure she wanted to do this. Regina nodded yes.

Still as she entered the room she took a deeper breath as Dr. Whale sneered at her. Emma had kept the handcuffs on him, which were now attached to the table. Regina sat down across from him while Emma stood behind her.

"Come to gloat?" he said when she remained silent.

"No," she said softly. "I came hoping we could talk and maybe come to an understanding. I don't hate you Victor. I don't hate you for what you tried to do. I have spent too much of my life torn up by hate and I am done with it. I hope you can believe that."

"I wouldn't believe there was a sun if you told me there was one."

"You have no reason to believe it I guess, but it doesn't make it any less true. You were right before when you said we were a lot a like. I know now you were just saying it to get on my good side in order to keep me near so you could experiment on me but it doesn't make it less true. You lost someone Victor, just like I did. And just like I did you were willing to do anything to bring that person back." She paused. "I never really thanked you properly for trying with Daniel, but let me say it now. Thank you. You tried your best even as I took you from your world – took you from the one you were trying to bring back. For that I am sorry."

"I can do it. I can bring my brother back, I can bring Daniel back. The things I have learned from how your brain activated during the fever, the way your magic interacts with your cells, with enough time I can do it."

"I don't want you to do it," she said. "Daniel is dead. I had to see him die twice and the last time he told … he told me I need to find love again." She looked back at Emma. "It's taken me decades to realize that Daniel shouldn't be here, shouldn't be alive. He died and nothing I can do can change that nor should it. I loved him with all my heart but I had no right to take that love for him and corrupt it with hate. He wouldn't have liked who I became and I don't like who I became. If I have to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to people, I will, even you. So this is what I am going to say to you. I forgive you. Whether you want to accept that is your decision, but know that when I walk out of here, as long as you never try and harm me or those I care about ever again I have no quarrel with you. I intend to tell the judge the same thing. You are skillful doctor – one which is needed here in Storybrooke. I am going to ask the judge that he give you and your co-conspirators nothing more than community service."

"What!" Emma said. Regina turned to look at her but Emma pulled her up from the chair and out of the door.

"You don't need to manhandle me," Regina said.

"Sorry," she said. "But I must have been hearing you wrong in there. Community service? You can't be serious."

"I am very serious," she said.

"Why?"

"I'm tired …"

"Which is why I said you needed to be at home resting."

"No. Not tired in that sense," Regina sighed. "I am tired of being the Evil Queen. No, don't interrupt. If this whole ordeal has taught me anything it is that despite what was done to me by Gold and my mother, I made bad choices. I am tired of being the one who makes bad choices. I need to start looking at the world differently. I need to stop being at odds with everyone around me. I need to start forging a path that I can happy on, and I hope you are going to be with me on that path."

Regina stepped closer and placed a chaste kiss on Emma's lips.

"Please, tell me I have your support,"

Emma pulled in her closer and gave her a deeper kiss. "I will support you, but it doesn't mean I have to like it and if the judge does let them off with just community service then I will be keeping my eye on them and my eyes on you. I will keep you safe this time."

"You kept me safe this time."

"Hardly."

"No, you did. When I was hallucinating … I think I felt you when you searching for me and I reacted to it. Without that you would probably not have been able to catch that glimpse of the hospital through my eyes. You are the reason I am alive Emma, and I am never going to take that for granted."

They shared one more kiss before returning to the room. Dr. Whale was still giving her a look that told her that he didn't appreciate her presence. She knew it was a lost cause, but she had to try.

"Like I said community service is what I am going to tell the judge to give you. Don't think I am doing you some magnanimous favor because if the judge allows it and you are allowed back in the hospital you have a long way to go. If you don't want people to think of you as Dr. Frankenstein then you need to give them a reason not to think that. You may never look at me and see anyone but the Evil Queen and I accept that. But I hope there comes a time when I can look at you and see only you Victor."

He didn't respond and she indicated to Emma that she was done and Emma took Dr. Whale back to his cell. When she returned Regina was still sitting there staring at the wall.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes," Regina said, standing up. "I just … I hope he does change. It's possible."

"I know," Emma smiled.

Regina moved closer to her, placing a hand on her arm. "Do you think that you and I would have ended up like this if …"

"What does it matter how we ended up this way?" Emma said. "We are here, together and I may be overstepping my bounds a bit, but I think you are pretty ok with that."

Regina smiled at her, "You have an odd mixture of ego and cuteness, do you know that?"

"I am not sure anyone has ever described me like that."

"Doesn't make me wrong."

This time Emma smiled. "You better go home and rest," she said. "I will be by later."

"I fully expect you to be," she said walking past her. "Oh and Miss Swan, bring something beside pizza or cheeseburgers for dinner, unless of course you want to lift my cooking ban."

"I can do tacos," Emma said.

…

Later that night, Emma, Henry and Regina sat around the table eating dinner – Emma having picked up some lasagna from a local Italian eatery.

"I can't wait to cook again," Regina said.

"I thought you liked the lasagna from this place," Emma said.

"I do and I am grateful for you bringing it, but cooking is more than just having a good meal. I actually enjoy it. Frankly there is no reason why I can't do it now."

"I know, but maybe I like having the excuse of food to come over here and spend time with you and Henry."

"You don't need an excuse," Regina said putting her hand on top of Emma's. "You are welcome here any time."

"Are you two going to be like this all the time?" Henry asked.

"Like what?" Emma said.

"All nice and whatever with each other."  
"You don't want us to be nice to each other?"

"It's not that. I want you to be happy and I think it's really cool that you two are like each other's true loves, but it's going to be strange if you two never argue."

Regina laughed, "I am sure there are more than a few arguments in our future."

"Hey," Emma protested.

"Seriously Miss Swan, the first time you try to take me on a date in that yellow monstrosity or pick me up wearing that red think you call a jacket, there will be an argument."

Emma knew Regina was joking – maybe half joking – but she wasn't going to back down either. "You know true love means being more accepting of the other person."

"I don't accept that you can't afford a nicer car or a better jacket."

"Oh, I could. But why get rid of things I like and things that have the potential to annoy you," she smiled.

"I don't suppose it really matter since you haven't actually asked me on a date."

"Why do I need to be the one to ask?"

"I am mayor my dear, I don't ask people on dates, I get asked."

"Well maybe I have no plans on asking you out. Maybe since you kissed me first you should ask me out."

"You kissed her first?" Henry asked.

"Technically. But I was also sick with a temperature of more than a 100. I could have kissed a horse and not known it."

"Oh, I guarantee you I kiss better than a horse," Emma said getting up and clearing the plates. "You won't be experiencing it again unless you ask me out."

"I not asking you out," Regina said.

"I am not asking you out either," Emma said.

"Why not?"

"The principle of the matter."

"What principle is that?"

"I don't know but I am sticking to it."

"You are highly aggravating."

"I am sure you will learn to love that side of me," Emma said winking at Henry, who looked on in amusement.

"I am not going to love any part of you unless you ask me out."

"Too late you already love me,"

"That's a matter of opinion."

"No it's not," Emma said crossing her arms and facing her. "Just ask me out. You will feel better for it, I promise."

"Absolutely not."

…

Tink waited for Regina to get to Granny's a week later for breakfast. Regina entered and slipped into the booth across from her.

"How was the date?" Tink asked.

"Amazing," she beamed.

"Details, I want details."

Regina told her how Emma had taken her out of town to a fancy restaurant on the coast where they had a dance floor and a live band played all night – mostly music for an older generation to slow dance to, but the first time they danced together it was more than Regina could have dreamed of. Afterward they had returned home to Regina's – having the house to themselves as Henry stayed with the Charmings – and they spent the rest of the evening talking.

"Just talking?" Tink inquired.

"Yes. It was the first date after all," Regina responded. "Although there was certainly kissing."

Tink clapped her hand. "Aren't you glad you asked her out?"

"I still maintain that she should have asked, but yet I am glad."

"It is so good to you smiling so much"

"I owe a lot of that to you," Regina said. "You've been such a good friend to me Tink and I want you to know I appreciate it. I appreciate that you are willing to give me another chance."

"Does this make me your best friend?"

"Yes, if you want to be,"

"Yay!" Tink said clapping her hands again.

…

Weeks passed by and Regina fully recovered from her second bout of fever and her bones had healed up. She was back to work and things had gotten back to normal – well as normal as things could be in Storybrooke.

Things with Emma had been progressing as they were now officially dating, an announcement that had Tink jumping up and down for joy. They were walking hand-in-hand after having dinner out when they saw another couple headed in their direction – Gold and Belle. Regina hadn't had contact with Gold since that day in her office.

"Are you ok?" Emma said noticing Regina tense up as they approached.

"As long as you are here, I am fine."

The two couples ended up stopping in front of each other.

"Hi Emma, hi Regina," Belle said.

They both exchanged hellos back to her although Regina immediately turned her attention to Gold after saying it. "I see you are back on you feet as always," Gold said to her.

"Yes," she said. "Mostly due to the support of Emma, Henry and Tink."

"You see sheriff that I had nothing to do with her disappearance," he said, taking a tone of authority.

"You're right. I apologize," Emma said.

"We're just glad it all worked out, that you are ok," Belle said, even though the Regina could tell that wasn't what Gold was thinking.

"Well, we should get going," Emma said.

"Yes, we should. Have a good evening," Regina said to them, and they moved past them but then Regina stopped to turn back toward them.  
"Oh Rumpelstiltskin," Regina said causing him and Belle to turn. "Since you are the foremost expert in magic around, I thought it might interest you to know that ever since I woke up in the hospital my ability to access my light magic has increased a hundred-fold. It's almost as if I've been using it all my life."

"Is there a point Regina," he said acting bored.

"Actually there is," she said stepping closer to him and staring at him. "My light magic is also a hundred times stronger than my dark magic ever was. There is no doubt in my mind if that if anyone were to try and cross paths with me at this point in my life that my magic and determination are more than a match for it."

"Is that some sort of veiled threat?"

"Not at all. I have no reason to threaten you or Belle or anyone else. You see I am finally on the way to being the person I should have been all along. You and my mother cast a curse on me to steal my destiny and your manipulations along the way helped me make more than my fair share of poor decisions – including what I did to Belle," she turned to Belle a moment. "Again which I am eternally sorry for the hurt I caused you. My point Rumple is that I am done with whatever this has been between us. I am done being hurt by you and hurting you. I wish to move past it and I hope you can too. My point is if you don't want to move past it, that is your choice. Again not a threat, but this is promise to you – if you make a move against me, against Henry, against Emma or anyone else for that matter, I will show you just how strong my magic has become."

"You think you are a match for me now?"

"No, I am better than you because I have embraced my real life and this woman here beside me, who has magic just as strong as mine, I have faith that she will have my back. And more importantly I am no longer afraid of you," she smiled. "After all, I had dinner with Emma's parents the other night, and if I could face them well there is nothing I could possibly be afraid of when it comes to you."

She put her hand out for a handshake, "let's call an end to it. All of it. Here and now."

He looked down at her hand put his arm around Belle, "Let's go." Belle gave one last look at Regina and Emma and let Rumple lead her away.

Emma her own arm around Regina.

"You faced him."

"I did," Regina smiled. "It felt good."

Emma gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I am proud of you. Not just for facing him, but for all of it. For choosing to be this person and choosing to accept me in your life."

"I am not sure either of us had much choice after that kiss in the stables, but for once I am ok with letting destiny dictate something for me."

"Good, now let's finish our walk," Emma said.

They continued their walk and were quiet for a few moments.

"By the way, dinner with my parents was not that scary."

"Easy for you to say my dear. I am pretty sure if your parents knew we've had sex that they would have burned me at the stake in the town square."


End file.
